Working-class people are underrepresented in politics.

[longknife]

This graphic is going to blow you away.

Look at it again.


Look at the local and state figures. Not even at that lower level.


And does anyone want to guess what segment of society the most politicians come from. Lawyers/attorneys?

Elites recruit elites

But couldn’t party and interest group leaders help working-class Americans overcome these obstacles? Couldn’t foundations create special funds to encourage and support candidates from the working class?

Of course. But they usually don’t. The people who recruit new candidates often don’t see workers as viable options, and pass them over in favor of white-collar candidates. In surveys of county-level party leaders, for instance, officials say that they mostly recruit professionals and that they regard workers as worse candidates. Candidates say the same thing: In surveys of people running for state legislature, workers report getting less encouragement from activist organizations, civic leaders, and journalists.

The reasons are complicated. Some party leaders cite concerns about fundraising to explain why they don’t recruit workers, for instance, and in places where elections cost less, party officials really do seem to recruit more working-class candidates. However, by far the best predictor of whether local party leaders say they encourage working-class candidates is whether the party leader reports having a lower income him- or herself and whether the party leader reports having any working-class people on the party’s executive committee.

Candidate recruitment is a deeply social activity, and political leaders are usually busy volunteers who look for new candidates within their own mostly white-collar personal and professional networks. The result is that working-class candidates are often passed over in favor of affluent professionals.

How many of you even take part in the lowest level of politics – the precinct. What would happen if more of us went from there to the next higher level. And next?

More about this @ Working-class people are underrepresented in politics. The problem isn’t voters.

Maybe the more than 170 military veterans running for Congress this year might make a dent.

 

[DGS49]

Not to get personal, but, let's define a "Real Job," as "supporting yourself through work in a private concern, where if you don't work or don't succeed you have a real chance of being fired."

70% of Americans have had and supported themselves with a Real Job.

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job. Almost no entertainers have ever had a Real Job.

I'm not saying that having a Real Job gives you the wisdom of Solomon, but it is a sad fact of life that most of our "Leaders" have never had the experience.

 

[there4eyeM]

Unrepresented is more like it.
It is obvious who is represented.

 

[Pogo]

This graphic is going to blow you away.

Look at it again.


Look at the local and state figures. Not even at that lower level.


And does anyone want to guess what segment of society the most politicians come from. Lawyers/attorneys?

Elites recruit elites

But couldn’t party and interest group leaders help working-class Americans overcome these obstacles? Couldn’t foundations create special funds to encourage and support candidates from the working class?

Of course. But they usually don’t. The people who recruit new candidates often don’t see workers as viable options, and pass them over in favor of white-collar candidates. In surveys of county-level party leaders, for instance, officials say that they mostly recruit professionals and that they regard workers as worse candidates. Candidates say the same thing: In surveys of people running for state legislature, workers report getting less encouragement from activist organizations, civic leaders, and journalists.

The reasons are complicated. Some party leaders cite concerns about fundraising to explain why they don’t recruit workers, for instance, and in places where elections cost less, party officials really do seem to recruit more working-class candidates. However, by far the best predictor of whether local party leaders say they encourage working-class candidates is whether the party leader reports having a lower income him- or herself and whether the party leader reports having any working-class people on the party’s executive committee.

Candidate recruitment is a deeply social activity, and political leaders are usually busy volunteers who look for new candidates within their own mostly white-collar personal and professional networks. The result is that working-class candidates are often passed over in favor of affluent professionals.

How many of you even take part in the lowest level of politics – the precinct. What would happen if more of us went from there to the next higher level. And next?

More about this @ Working-class people are underrepresented in politics. The problem isn’t voters.

Maybe the more than 170 military veterans running for Congress this year might make a dent.

Salient observation, but this isn't exactly new news. I'd be hard pressed to think of a time when elites hadn't established themselves on the top.

I suspect that the reason we get lawyers dominating political offices is that they're trained in the art of persuasion, ergo an electorate becomes a jury to which one makes their case. Or in the case of the current POTUS a con artist --- they too are trained in the art of persuasion and deception.

So I can't agree with the articles subtitle that "the problem isn't voters" because as long as voters fail to see through those games it very much is. Should demagogues be peddling pandering and deception, of course not, but the end user has to be responsible enough to see through it when they do and send them packing. These elites don't elect themselves.

 

[Pogo]

Not to get personal, but, let's define a "Real Job," as "supporting yourself through work in a private concern, where if you don't work or don't succeed you have a real chance of being fired."

70% of Americans have had and supported themselves with a Real Job.

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job. Almost no entertainers have ever had a Real Job.

I'm not saying that having a Real Job gives you the wisdom of Solomon, but it is a sad fact of life that most of our "Leaders" have never had the experience.

This is what I've pointed out about Rump for as long as he's been on the scene --- he's literally never held a job in his life before now, in fact he's gone out of his way to find ways of shirking any kind of responsibility for anything. We all know what it's like to pound the pavement asking for employment, knowing one has competition and might not get it, and knowing that if you do get it you've got to meet somebody else's expectations whether you feel like it that day or not, and if you don't you can be replaced. Rump has literally never had that experience. Skated out of the military, shook off two wives, stayed away from childrearing, denies his bankruptcies and myriad other failures, and simply makes shit up when he can't deal with the reality of the world, and then won't take responsibility for that either. It continues to astound that Americans would even consider putting a con artist who's literally never held a job or taken any responsibility in his life, into the most responsible job in the world.

I agree with your definition at the top but it also includes college professors, PS teachers, entertainers et al. They still have to meet the expectations of the college, school or entertainment venue. And those of us who hire out our services as freelancers still have to meet the expectations of the client.

 

[my2¢]

Our governor is ex-CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, not sure how that fits in with the 0% ranking cited for governors.
Doug Ducey - Wikipedia

 

[Lesh]

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job

What an absurd and ignorant comment

 

[longknife]

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job

What an absurd and ignorant comment

Why?

 

[Timmy]

Because it takes boatloads of money to run for office .

Let’s say you are a working stiff and you want to run for office . You can’t leave your good job to hold a short term office . Bills need to be paid .

 

[Timmy]

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job

What an absurd and ignorant comment

Why?

Because teaching is a a real job.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Very few politicians have ever worked a Real Job. Almost no college professors, and near zero public school teachers have ever had a Real Job

What an absurd and ignorant comment

That says alot about you, let us guess you work at the DMV?


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