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Rick Manning: Blue Collar America Must Be Protected

WHITE WORKING CLASS COMMUNITIES DO NOT DESERVE TO BE LEFT FOR DEAD … || By RICK MANNING || Normally I would ignore a run of the mill writer from a past its prime publication still living on the legacy of its founder, but Kevin Williamson‘s attack on the white middle class is so…

WHITE WORKING CLASS COMMUNITIES DO NOT DESERVE TO BE LEFT FOR DEAD …

rick manning|| By RICK MANNING || Normally I would ignore a run of the mill writer from a past its prime publication still living on the legacy of its founder, but Kevin Williamson‘s attack on the white middle class is so beyond the pale that it cannot be ignored.

Incredibly, the National Review writer proclaimed in this month’s cover article that those who are being left behind through the global trade agenda and shipping jobs overseas are somehow responsible for not adapting to the new economic reality. “[N]obody did this to them. They failed themselves,” writes Williamson.

Williamson claims a moral high ground because in the D.C. ivory tower complaints about failing economic policies like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact are “immoral because it perpetuates a lie: that the white working class that finds itself attracted to [Republican presidential candidate Donald] Trump has been victimized by outside forces.”

It gets better. “It wasn’t Beijing. It wasn’t even Washington, as bad as Washington can be. It wasn’t immigrants from Mexico, excessive and problematic as our current immigration levels are. It wasn’t any of that,” adds Williamson.

“The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible,” he writes.

Williamson blames the very people who are undeniably the victims of a combination of big government regulation and disastrous trade policies that have traded manufacturing jobs for lower costs for those products.

In spite of his claim that “On the trade front, American manufacturing continues to expand and thrive,” the reality is that since the year 2000 when Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China went into effect, five million manufacturing jobs have been lost, according to data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What’s more, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product growth has not exceeded 4 percent since that same year.  In fact, GDP growth hasn’t exceeded 3 percent since 2005 making the past decade the worst for economic growth since the Great Depression.

This is not the fault of those who lived in those towns that depended upon local manufacturing that was shipped overseas, it is the fault of the government policy that put into place the environment where closing local mills in North Carolina made more economic sense than keeping them open.

It is the fault of government policies that dictated that incandescent light bulbs could not be sold in the United States, so General Electric (which lobbied for the ban) could close the Virginia plant that made those bulbs and replace it with one in China that makes the federal government mandated ones.

It is the fault of environmental regulatory policies that turned timber mill towns in the Northwest into ghost towns, and are currently in the process of shutting down coal mines and industries related to the coal business shuttering the life blood of towns all over Appalachia.

And it is the fault of a corporate tax system that makes it undesirable to invest in building things here in America.

The ugly truth that the self-righteous Williamson misses is that government policy has stranded millions of Americans economically, and pretending that if they just play Jed Clampett and load up their trucks and move to California all will be well is either deliberately disingenuous or downright cruel.

While the National Review has shown contempt for all things Trump, it is telling that their real contempt is for the voters who are choosing him – the same voters who Obama decried as “clinging to their guns and religion” in 2008. It is ironic that these very social issues that the GOP economic elites want to excise from the platform has been one of the only reasons for blue collar voters to support the GOP, but that is a different story.

The matter at hand is whether the GOP establishment is finally going to embrace the dreams and aspirations of those who, as the Jimmy Stewart character George Bailey once said, “do most of the living and dying in this town,” or are they going to cling to an outmoded agenda that assumes that what is good for GE is necessarily good for the American people.

Please note that being good for GE is not necessarily bad for America, but it also is not necessarily good. What is good for America is a vibrant, middle class with expanding opportunities where the people have hope that their children will have better lives than they had. That is the American dream, and it is being squashed like a bug under the weight of taxes, regulations, and our nation’s trade policy.

Williamson and the National Review can somehow attempt to make the moral case for why countries like Vietnam and Malaysia should be given best on the card tariff rates to sell goods manufactured in a virtual slave labor environment based upon the cost savings to American consumers as is the case in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

That argument is the equivalent of justifying slavery in the U.S. because it produced cheap cotton for clothing manufacturers up north. What’s the difference? The party of Lincoln indeed.

The only thing morally bankrupt here are those who continue to turn a blind eye to these evils, and proclaim it is the market’s invisible hand at work and not the truth that it is shady back-room, political trade deals that are nothing more than crony capitalism writ large.

The question that conservatives must answer in the on-going debate over President Barack Obama’s proposal to rewrite the rules for the world’s economy through the Trans-Pacific Partnership is whether following General Electric’s agenda to flatten the world’s regulatory regimes to produce efficiencies in manufacturing and labor is in the interests of the United States?

The only moral conservative position is to change the U.S. tax laws and regulatory regimes to make it advantageous for job creators to expand operations here in America. The only moral conservative position is to end the regulatory jihad against U.S. job creators and inexpensive electricity generation – the life blood of rebuilding the manufacturing sector. And after dealing with taxes and regulations, then looking at bi-lateral trade deals that make sense for America as a whole, lower tariffs and address currency manipulation.

That is a conservative solution that helps all of America thrive, and those who would crucify blue collar workers on the corporate crony trade altar are no better than those who would sacrifice the same group to their green gods – they are both despicable.

With thinking like National Review’s, is there any wonder why the blue collar silent majority is revolting against the elites of both political parties?

Rick Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government.  Follow him on Twitter @RManning957.  This article (reprinted with permission) originally appeared on Brietbart.

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30 comments

RogueElephant March 18, 2016 at 1:01 pm

The only moral conservative position is to change the U.S. tax laws and regulatory regimes to make it advantageous for job creators to expand operations here in America. The only moral conservative position is to end the regulatory jihad against U.S. job creators and inexpensive electricity generation – the life blood of rebuilding the manufacturing sector. And after dealing with taxes and regulations, then looking at bi-lateral trade deals that make sense for America as a whole, lower tariffs and address currency manipulation.

That is a conservative solution that helps all of America thrive, and those who would crucify blue collar workers on the corporate crony trade altar are no better than those who would sacrifice the same group to their green gods – they are both despicable.

With thinking like National Review’s, is there any wonder why the blue collar silent majority is revolting against the elites of both political parties? TRUMP 2016.

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Rocky Verdad March 18, 2016 at 2:09 pm

Rogue, job creators already expand operations in the US. It’s just that, well, they require a minimum two years post HS education, and aptitude beyond meth mixing and Mortal Combat 5024

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RogueElephant March 18, 2016 at 3:36 pm

Meth mixing and mortal combat is the result of fifty years of the Great Society. We must virtually start over in this country , after The Great Society killed initiative and NAFTA killed all the jobs. President Trump is going to take his first term starting the ball rolling.

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Jack March 18, 2016 at 4:12 pm

You recognize the problem, but continue to be duped into believing the same ole bs solutions the Republicans have been selling for decades. There is no jihad against Job Creators. It’s all a fiction created by people who are benefiting from the trickle down economic policies that have failed. No, cutting taxes on rich people and cutting tariffs will not allow us to compete with third world labor prices.

We need free trade agreements with countries who value workers and pay reasonable wages and higher tariffs on third world countries who pay shit wages and treat workers poorly.

Manning and his ilk are making a fool out of you. They pretend that the problems of the middle class are all the governments fault. At the same time he and the people he works for have been attacking programs designed to protect the middle class and make the middle class more successful. Like healthcare, education, infrastructure, and programs that protect people who are too old or too sick to work.

They sell this bull shit senario where Americans would all be rich if we would just stop taxing rich people, stop preventing clear cutting of forests by timber companies, allow strip mining, and allow corporations to pollute to their hearts content, deregulate wall street, blah blah blah. As much as you want to believe you have not been duped and screwed, the truth is you have. You are advocating for the policies of the very people who have brought the middle class to its knees.

The Truth is they are afraid of Trump and Bernie, because neither is going along with their bull shit arguments anymore. The government is not the enemy. The enemy are the billionaires and international corporations who are raping middle class America.

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Conservative "values" March 18, 2016 at 4:32 pm

Yeh,but they have

“Conservative Values.”

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Ernesto March 19, 2016 at 12:49 am

The unrestrained hype and hustle capitalism is at the origin of the current economical and cultural malaise. Until this idea permeates politicL thinking in the US you will bounce between left and right wing populism driven by disenfranchised white middle and underclass. Trump or Chavez-like string me. – pick your poison.

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I'm with stupid March 19, 2016 at 2:09 pm

So Chavez had some unrestrained hype and hustle capitalism going on eh?

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ernesto March 19, 2016 at 3:18 pm

When the oil price was up he was a typical autocratic strong man trampling on democratic values and extracting at huge environmental costs oil, selling it for high profit, not taxing enough to support social and infrastructural needs of Venezuela – yes your run of the mill third world capitalism : crude, benefitting a small oligarchy and to the detriment of the majority of people.

I'm with stupid March 19, 2016 at 7:51 pm

“yes your run of the mill third world capitalism”

You have no idea what capitalism is. You’re reading too much communist propaganda.

Per Wikipedia:

“From his election in 1998 until his death in March 2013, Chávez’s administration proposed and enacted democratic socialist economic policies.
Domestic policies included redistribution of wealth, land reform, and
democratization of economic activity via workplace self-management and
creation of worker-owned cooperatives”

Chavez never, NEVER claimed he was a capitalist in any way, shape or form.

Manray9 March 20, 2016 at 5:53 pm

The GOP thrives on the same tired old crap. The enemies of American workers are organized labor, regulations, and high taxes on so-called job creators. In reality they use fatuous issues like guns, abortion, the imaginary threat to religion, xenophobia, homophobia, etc. to dupe the rubes into keeping them in office so they may do the bidding of moneyed interests. It’s what they’ve been doing for decades. Maybe some of the rubes are waking up?

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Crooner March 22, 2016 at 2:41 pm

And now they are intent on using the SCOTUS as a wedge issue, in large part because they can’t generate voter turnout based on their nominee.

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Ben March 19, 2016 at 1:20 am

The biggest political betrayal of blue collar workers was committed by Republicans convincing them they should oppose education, healthcare and a social welfare system that would help them and their kids.
The biggest political betrayal of blue collar workers in the future will be committed by Trump as he sheds his populist mantle once he has power.

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RogueElephant March 19, 2016 at 8:12 am

Bull Shit.

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Ben March 19, 2016 at 3:12 pm

Brilliant argument!

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RogueElephant March 19, 2016 at 9:52 pm

Thank you. Concise , to the point and covers the subject completely.

TroubleBaby March 20, 2016 at 1:42 pm

Good for you! You just avoided becoming a victim of the “bullshit asymmetry principle”:

http://www.slideshare.net/ziobrando/bulshit-asymmetry-principle-lightning-talk

(starts around page 9 on slideshow)

I’m working on learning to avoid it as well, it starts by recognizing who’s worth your time and not.

Jack March 21, 2016 at 10:55 am

Bull Shit!

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Government is the problem March 19, 2016 at 2:12 pm

Both Republicans and Democrats sold the blue collar worker down the river.

It’s not that the blue collar worker doesn’t want good education or healthcare(setting welfare aside for a moment because no one actually ever wants to have to use welfare), it’s that they know the promises made by both Dems and Repubs when it comes to those things have not been met.

Government has no only failed to deliver these promises given selectively by Dems and Repubs, it continues to harm blue collar workers beyond those areas because the taxes taken from them and their employers for these promises has contributed to them not being able to compete on a global scale.

Deep down they know this too.

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Jack March 21, 2016 at 10:54 am

Government is not the problem. Corruption is the problem. A government bought and paid for is the problem. We do not have to kill government, we have to stop allowing people to pay politicians. That is the exact opposite of what the GOP has been fighting for over the past decade. They want more money in politics not less. Because that is how they become rich and powerful. By selling their votes.

I have heard the arguments that Democrats are the same, but I have to ask, how so? It is difficult to be corrupt when you advocate for higher taxes on the wealthy and an end to Citizens United, and all it has wrought. I think the only answer is while there are some corrupt Democrats, as a group Republicans are far more corrupt.

I do not think it is a coincidence that Republicans have dramatically expanded their control of Federal, State and Local Government since Citizens United. I think they are being funded by big money interests who expect a pay back.

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Rocky Verdad March 18, 2016 at 2:08 pm

Because Article 4, of the Constitution, says you’re esnured a pentioned job at the local plant.

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Flip March 18, 2016 at 2:18 pm

#AllCollarsMatter

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Flip March 18, 2016 at 2:20 pm

Also, in light of yet another Disqus life lost, #DisqusLivesMatter

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Nat March 18, 2016 at 2:57 pm

I read where Phyllis Schlafly wants to ban foreigners from playing in Major League baseball. She blames them for a wage decline and lost interest in the sport.
I say, what about all those Brits and Aussies taking our God Given American Acting roles? Screw Andrew Lincoln, he is no real Rick Grimes, Georgia boy. LOL, they’d have to get rid of most of The Walking Dead cast.

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Bible Thumper March 18, 2016 at 3:05 pm

With thinking like National Review’s, is there any wonder why the blue collar silent majority is revolting against the elites of both political parties?

The question is “Are they a majority capable of winning a general election or are they only able to get a 35% to 40% plurality in lower turnout party primaries?”

There are a lot of people who are not GE or a member of the 1% who are doing quite well. Why should the loss of 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000 be the measuring stick for the well being of the entire country? Why not this? : (change the date to 2000.)
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?data_tool=XGtable
Or This:
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000003?data_tool=XGtable

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Mom March 18, 2016 at 6:51 pm

The fact of the matter is that industries evolve. Paper companies like Staples have suffered bc of computer transactions. Radio Shack no longer exists because all the gadgets can now be accessed by computers. Uber will force taxi cabs to go out of business. Making sure people have jobs is NOT a core function of government. The assumption is that people are smart enough to see changes in industry and change with the times.
slave labor

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Jack March 21, 2016 at 10:45 am

Yes industries evolve. So what?

According to the Declaration of Independence, the core function of government is to secure the right of the people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. According to the Constitution, the core functions of Government are to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare…”

I do not see how people can live without health care, or have liberty and pursue happiness without a source of income, food, clothing and shelter.. I do not see how the country can have domestic tranquility if most of our people live week to week , while a few mega-wealthy pay government to rig the system to benefit them.

I think providing an environment that allows the average man to prosper and live a fulfilling happy life, is a core function of government.

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euwe max March 19, 2016 at 2:52 pm

…from the rich

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idiotwind March 21, 2016 at 9:47 am

yeah! bring back the textile mills and don’t forget the government subsidies to keep them competitive. Soviets rule!

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Jack March 21, 2016 at 10:34 am

We would not need subsidies if we did not have free trade agreements with countries that force their citizens to work for slave wages. We should impose higher tariffs on countries that do not pay competitive wages to employees, eliminating the incentive for them to pay slave wages.

Yes Americans would temporarily pay more for these goods, but in the long run as the people in those other nations became richer we would have more people to sell to. The “mistake” that Republicans made was agreeing with international Corporations and billionaires that the American worker was overpaid, and that outsourcing was necessary to bring the American worker down to a level that would allow them to compete with third world workers.

They pretended that what they were doing was bringing the higher wage jobs here and shifting the lower wage jobs there. What they should have been doing was trying to bring the higher wage jobs here while simultaneously keeping the jobs we have. Some people have benefited from free trade with the third world but the vast majority of Americans have not. Unless you think a cheap TV is of long term value.

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Go TRump March 22, 2016 at 1:07 pm

GOP elites have done nothing for blue collars. Recently 1400 jobs left Indianapolis for Mexico. Carrier is the perpetrator. I hope Trump jumps on this BS. What good is having a wonderful country to live in if all the jobs have left the USA??

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