There is little doubt that I live in a bubble. Virtually all whom I associate with share my values and perspectives, though we might heartily argue details. Occasionally, though, the fundamentals of my world view are questioned (though remarkably rarely). Two recent examples occurred. First, it was alleged that the MAGA crowd might be nuts, but I should acknowledge that the Dems have no plan of their own. Second, an accusation followed that, since I criticize the Trump-Musk rampage through our federal government, I must favor waste and abuse in the public sector.

I thought on these two points for a moment. Below are my immediate reactions:

1. The Dems dont have a plan of their own? There is a decent point buried here. What did the iconic humorist, Will Rogers, once say … I don’t belong to an organized political party. I‘m a Democrat. On thinking about this, I have a theory. If you know me at all, you would know I have a theory on just about everything. My theory on this issue goes something like this.

Democrats, in the recent century or so at least, have tried to embrace many within a broad tent. They see themselves as being the voice of the common people, whatever that means. The challenge of doing this, a problem really, is that our pluralistic society has too many interest groups. Many of these view the world myopically, whatever helps others costs them something. Thus, it becomes extremely difficult to keep all these self-interested groups happy. The net result is an unclear or confusing message.

I’ve always been upset when economists chime in on many policy issues. These practitioners of the dismal sciences will often pose questions like … will you (or your family) be helped or hurt by this tax change? Most policy changes have winners and losers in the short run. To pose every question in these terms positions governance in a zero-sum framework. The public good or general well-being be damned. The thing is, you can’t please all the people all the time. Sometimes, progress involves personal sacrifice.

Republicans, on the other hand, have a much simpler challenge. They focus on a single interest group … the filthy rich. Every issue in society has the same solution … regressive tax cuts that redistribute much to the elite and pennies to real people. You would think that the working classes would be upset by this. But no, they have gradually flocked to the Republican Party over the past several decades. The reason that average workers vote against their self-interest is not the stuff of rocket science. They have been hoodwinked by the oldest con in the books. Simply frighten them with images and assertions about those close to them on the economic ladder, but who strike them as different from them … people who are darker, speak a foreign language, or follow a different culture/religion. Then, promise to save these good folk from this alleged threat. That Latino immigrant is the source of all your problems. Or those ‘woke radicals’ want to take Christmas away from you. I (read Trump) will give you permission to hate them. Better, I will save you from them.

Hell, it worked in the ante-bellum South. White farmers on small farms and working class stiffs were penalized economically by the backward feudal system supporting slavery. Inequality, even among Caucasians, was intolerable. Yet, simply by being told they were better than Blacks, non-wealthy whites went off to fight and die willingly for this horrific system that kept them relatively poor. Very little has changed in the 165 years since.

2. I must favor waste and abuse. … Apparently, because I don’t believe Elon Musk and his kiddie corps are making our federal government efficient, I must be in favor waste and abuse. I’ll start responding to that as soon as I stop chuckling.

As it happens, my first professional position was with the State of Wisconsin. I worked on the Quality Control system for public assistance programs. This was a federal-state effort to identify and root out abuse, inefficiencies, and simple errors in income support programs designed largely to help vulnerable families. Rather quickly, we reduced program error rates to within strict federally-based standards.

However, having the attention span of a firefly, I quickly flitted to other challenges … one being to bring the management of these programs into the computer age. Wisconsin was the first in the nation to successfully to automate the key elements of its AFDC, Food Stamp, and Medicaid programs (elegibility and benefit levels). By the end of all this, the overhead costs were the lowest nationally. In AFDC (the major incone support program for poor children), less than a nickel for every dollar in benefits went to administrative overhead costs.

I mention this to point out the following point. All that success mattered not a single whit to those seeing ‘waste and abuse‘ everywhere in welfare. If they did not like the intent of the program, or despised the intended beneficiaries, they went on believing, often passionately, that these were public resources being totally wasted. Neither good design, sound management, nor efficient administration had any bearing on their perception of the program.

And so in marches Musk. He wants further tax breaks for the uber wealthy. He wants further federal contracts for his companies which, of course, are beyond reproach. So, they suddenly find all this waste and abuse and start slashing costs across the board. Given how quickly they moved, they could not have done ANY ANALISIS before hacking away or eliminating programs altogether. This was merely a hatchet job on programs deemed unworthy, probably because they helped populations for which Musk and Trump’s MAGA crowd had little use … working folk and the vulnerable. Let them eat cake!

For once, I would like those slashing away at federal and local programs to start by defining waste and abuse. Tell me precisely what is bad about a program and how they might measure it. Labeling something as failing absent such rigor is meaningless and nonsense. Until I see that done, and in a way that can pass a smell test, I will retain my skepticism.

There is one other point that has not been directed at me personally but which rattles my chains. Namely, the Dems have abandoned the working class.

3. Dems no longer care about working stiffs. I have read this claim in a number of opinion pieces over the past several months. The basic line goes something like this. The Democratic Party once embraced workers during the FDR era when government led us out of the great depression. But they have since abandoned hard working folk.

I certainly get that rural people and low educated urban types are anxious. Small towns are drying up. Those without degrees, and some with degrees, are facing uncertain futures. With ever more powerful Artificial Intelligence systems poised to emerge, those anxieties are likely to be fully realized. There is no easy answers to that reality.

Having said that, one thing remains clear. The Republican Party is the last place to look for any relief or solutions. They have been singularly focused on pleasing the uber rich for many decades now. In fact, they will do anything to ensure that the wealthy have a large supply of desperate workers available to labor for them at ever lower levels of compensation. Their anti-labor positions explains why workers in the U.S. are far behind their peers in other advanced nations with respect to labor protections.

What the Dems don’t do well is play the classic con game. They don’t play to emotional social and cultural issues to keep their base aroused and angry. No, the Dems actually think through what workers might need to improve their lives. Unfortunately, the GOP is far, far more adept at muddling the waters with inflammatory side issues (a war on Christmas … really?).

Perhaps, when Trump completely tanks the economy, things will begin to change. They might, but I’m not hopeful. The American electorate strikes me as uniquely myopic and backwards. It didn’t seem like that when I grew up in a working class neighborhood in the 1950s. I wonder if fluoride in the water made people dumber over time. 🤔

I take small comfort in the thought that karma might exist. As pointed out in the initial meme, the elite are hurting themselves at the moment. Alas, those at the top usually find a way to enrich themselves in the end, even as us regular folk suffer from their machinations.