Lou Dobbs' Class Warfare Crusade

[Tigermike 3,039]

October 22, 2006

Lou Dobbs' Class Warfare Crusade

By Ruben Navarrette

SAN DIEGO -- We really are two Americas.

The divide shows up in a recent CNN poll that asked people if they thought the American Dream was now impossible to reach. Fifty-four percent said yes, while 45 percent said no.

How depressing.

There are Americans who believe that this is still a country of unlimited opportunity for those who work hard and sacrifice. And there are others who are convinced that the deck is stacked against working men and women.

There are those who believe that what works against some folks are not the bad breaks, but bad choices such as dropping out of high school or ambling through life without ambition. And there are others who believe that human beings are at the mercy of sinister forces beyond their control.

If you fall into the first category, you're part of my America. If you're in the second, you're part of Lou Dobbs' America.

Having raged against illegal immigration and the outsourcing of American jobs, the television commentator is now fuming over what he considers a "War on the Middle Class," the title of his new book.

As Dobbs sees it, the middle class is under siege by "political, business, and academic elites'' who "along with compatriots in the government and the media ... are using their newfound status to keep the interests of the middle class from getting in the way of their own.''

The weapons are "greed and self-interest in our nation's executive suites and boardrooms'' and the casualties include the loss of jobs, a decline in educational standards, and rising health care costs. We have become a "divided society ... of haves and have-nots, educated and uneducated, rich and poor.'' And, says Dobbs, the folks who suffer are those who "built this country'' and who now struggle with "uncertain job prospects, insecure financial futures, and the likelihood of a severely reduced standard of living.''

This is scary stuff. Not that all this is really happening, mind you, but that Dobbs -- who describes himself as a liberal Republican who believes in free enterprise -- nevertheless has decided to brazenly stoke the flames of class warfare.

What else do you call it when one harps on the fact that "median family income has risen by 18 percent while the income of the top 1 percent -- the very wealthiest families -- has gone up by 200 percent?''

So what? The reason class warfare never works is because most middle-class Americans don't so much resent the wealthy as want to join their ranks.

The U.S. Census divides income levels into fifths and puts the top income bracket at families earning more than $150,000 per year. The folks in the bottom 20 percent make up the working poor. The people in between -- families making between $26,000 and $150,000 per year -- loosely comprise the middle class, the folks against whom war is supposedly being waged.

The people who gathered in Kansas City last week for a CNN special hosted by Dobbs sure seemed embattled. It resembled one of those Democratic town halls during the run-up to the New Hampshire primary where people spill out their problems and then demand to know what government is going to do to solve them.

Dobbs does get some things right. I've argued with him in the past over what I contend is the diminished work ethic of Americans today, especially the young. Now he is coming around. He writes: "There was a time when Americans respected work, no matter how menial, no matter how low the pay, whether it was digging a ditch, picking strawberries, cleaning restrooms, or collecting garbage. I'm afraid there's too much evidence that this is no longer the case.''

Say, Lou, I know where you can find people who still respect that kind of work. They're coming across the border, and they're not blaming anyone for their plight. They're just working like mad and doing without many of life's comforts to improve it. And, all the while, they're maintaining their optimism.

Maybe Dobbs ought to think about whether there isn't a connection between this lost appetite for labor and the economic anxiety that some Americans are feeling. And maybe Americans who are struggling should try making different choices, doing without some comforts, and taking responsibility for improving their lot instead of waiting for government or corporations to do it for them.

Or, if they prefer, the folks in that other America can just throw in the towel and keep blaming the well-off, and those who aspire to be well-off, for the fact that others aren't doing as well as they would like.

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CORRECTION: In a recent column, I wrote that a majority of Democrats in Congress voted in 2002 to give President Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq. While a majority of Senate Democrats voted for the war, most House Democrats did not.

ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...o_americas.html

[Bottomfeeder 244]

I love Lou Dobbs. He's the only journalist who speaks for me.

[Tigermike 3,039]

I am positive he would be thrilled to hear that.

I will pass it along to him the next time we have lunch.

[DKW 86 7,429]

I think Dobbs is pulling a not so fast one here. He is using class warfare to talk about other things in America. If I had his bully pulpit, I would be doing everything I could to talk about the horrific level of education in America and why we should empower people, specifically inner city African Americans with school vouchers, etc

Instead, the Democratic and Republican parties kind of co-exploit this for their own selfish political; gains. They both use it to fund raise prolifically and then do nothing to actually help out.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

I think Dobbs is puling a not so fast one here. He is using calss warfare to talk about other things in America. If I had his bully pulpit, I would be doing everything I could to talk about the horrific leevel of education in America and why we should empower people, specifically inner city African Americans with school vouchers, etc

That's exactly what Lou does. He uses the plight of the working class to emphasis the lack of participation in the education system by everyone involved. I like the speech he gave at the IBEW Convention this year as he stressed the importance of education, and the degeneration that has occurred within that system over the last few decades. Not everyone can afford private schools and those who rely on the public education system have become victims of inadequate maintenance. I truly don't believe we can do enough to educate our children, regardless of social status. And, if we don't step up to the plate, we become no better than that school in Tuscalooser. They thrive on social status over there. From the border to the lack of effort in congress, Lou covers just about everything. I have been listening to his show for years and record it at 5 pm so I won't miss it. At one time CNN would play his program again at 10 pm, but not anymore.

[AUman43 5]

His program on Wednesday night dealing with illegal immigration was outstanding.... He allowed every viewpoint to be presented and the debate was enlightening.... I serously doubt that the average American realizes the threat that our unprotected borders and illegal immigration represents to this Country. I wish somebody could shock the politicians in Washington into actually doing something.... We should demand it!

[DKW 86 7,429]

Last night he was on the Daily Show. He was very good. Attacked Dems and Reps very evenly. Went after corporate profit and flat wages and then flatly stated that what we now had was corporations that owned congress so badly that the corps now wrote the legislation and simply handed it to the schmucks in congress.

It was funny and very fair.

[japantiger 4,051]

Dobbs is a whiner....

Education - we have poured Billions into the system in the last 15 years from the Federal Government. It has not improved education. I grew up in rural North Alabama....my books were many of the same ones my two older bothers had used 5 and 10 years before me...held together by duct tape....we didn't even have a lab in high school...BUT, I could read, write well and do math out the wazoo....that came from having parents and teachers that cared about me and were determined to see me learn and acheive more than they had....it wasn't about money then; it's not about money now. It wasn't about private schools then; it's not about private schools now.....it's about discipline and setting high standards for peformance and conduct.

The American Dream....anyone who thinks America is not a country of opportunity needs to live outside the US....everyone; without exception; wants to get to the US....I am living the American Dream...I am the poster child for the American Dream...if you work hard; are disciplined and are willing to make sacrifices; the US provides unparralled opportunity.... the US economy is larger than the next 10 largest economies combine...we grow GDP from 2% - 4% a year on an economy of Trillions of GDP.... if you don't want to work hard and make sacrifices...then no country will provide opportunity.

There is no such thing as a liberal Republican...Dobbs is a democrat...period...in spite of what he may say..he is a bitter failed business man that has an axe to grind now that the process chewed him up...

God Bless America....

[DKW 86 7,429]

JT, I believe that America is the land of opportunity, no doubt. We coud do so much better if the teracher's unions werent owned lock stock and barrel by the old "status quo" union guard. They are regreessive and very unfair to innner city blacks.

Dobbs plainly points out that the labor unions in America are do much more bad than good these days.