Unequal Democracy
By: Larry M. Bartels Every great once in a while a book comes out that is so riveting so edge of the seat entertaining that one can hardly put it down; this isn’t one of those books, but you still can’t put it down. Unequal Democracy is an enlightening work of art that opens to its reader truth about out escalating economic inequality, particularly during Republican Presidential terms. Professor Bartels has done all of the boring mind-numbing work for us (charts, graphs, reviews, push polls, regular polls, etc.) and connected the dots in such a way that much of the inequality becomes understandable and pattern forming. Bartels even creates his own charts for us to see, I saw enough charts and graphs to make me want to break out the old box of coloring pencils again. Unequal Democracy starts with the New Gilded Age, in which he shows and interprets economic inequality and what it means to the voters. He talks about how, many voters have what seems to be a form of Alzheimer’s and their memories only work for the year of the elections. Now Bartels doesn’t actually say we all have Alzheimer’s, but I read between the lines and I agree. The American public usually focuses on where the economy is during an election year. This is a benefit to the Republican Party because, according to Bartels research from the second year of the Republicans candidacy until a year before the next elections the economy usually goes into a recession and unemployment rises. The year of the election the economy begins to level off and it looks as if things are getting better. This impeccable timing combined with American Alzheimer’s allows the people to feel as if this party is doing a good job. The truth is that while the Republican Party is in power the income gap widens between the working class and the top five percent of elite upper-class. The middle and poor working class suffer more in terms of income and wealth distribution. Bartels’ work goes on to show that, during a Democratic Presidency the American economy experiences growth and stimulation and then begins to level off on the fourth year. The economic inequality between wealth and middleclass and poor working class begins to level off. Bartels does admit that although there is a leveling off, this does not mean that the gap closes to any large degree. He then shows how, with Democratic Presidents the income for the working middle class is about twice as high as it is under the Republicans. The income growth is six times greater under a Democratic President as it is under a Republican. Supply side or trickle down economics still exist under either administration it is just a little better for the poor and middle class under Democrats. Bartels goes on to talk about how unemployment rates usually grow during Republican terms and shows how this has little impact on the upper-class. A rise in unemployment is felt more by the middle-class which depends on the working class to buy goods and services, and is essentially not a major factor in the upper-class. He shows how a sustained 1% unemployment growth over an eight year period equals out to about $10,000 accumulative loss in middle-class income. This is a significant amount in a middle class income. Bartels spends a chapter talking about class politics and partisan change. In this chapter he talks about all the racy stuff to make a good novel, race, religion, sex and income level; too bad it’s an ole’ boring book about politics. He talks about the White Working Class. The white-working class that he is referring to is a particular class of Americans that particular political writings and advertisements chooses as a targeted audience. The white working class is middle-aged, white (obviously), non-college educated and working male. This class identifies “especially in the south” as Democratic but votes overwhelmingly Republican. Not including the 2008 election, the only time that the white-working class voted Democratic in any large number was in 1960 for Kennedy. In 1976 they voted around 50 percent for Carter and in 1992 and 1996 Clinton received around 50 percent of the white working class vote. So; why does the white-working class vote against their own interest so overwhelmingly? One thought offered by Bartels was myopic voters. Commonly Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina when accommodation is relaxed. Those with myopia typically can see nearby objects clearly but distant objects appear blurred. The opposite defect of myopia is hypertrophy or "farsightedness" or "long-sightedness" — this is where the cornea is too flat or the eye is too short. In political terminology, these voters only look at their current status to determine how well the current administration is working. I call it American Alzheimer’s. Bartels also talks about how, these working-class whites accept their condition as just a part of the process, and it just becomes inevitability. With the current class system in place and the fact that many of the people affected aren't properly educated they just adopt a form of apathy. Finally, the thing I really like about this book is the fact that it doesn't actually choose sides. It is just empirical evidence showing how democracy, political parties, and class all tie in together, and the ardent affects to these facts. It can seem as though he is bashing the Republican Party; but I really don’t see that point of view. Facts are facts. I like that Bartels, was able to read between the lines and see the big picture, therefore enlightening the reader. Hopefully I won’t forget about how we need to… I can’t seem to remember, it must be an election year. ;)
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