The ruling class isn't isolated to the Southern GOP.

Corker, a multi-millionaire who won his seat in a mud-slinging, race-tinged election in 2006, was fairly transparent in his goal to expunge what he considers the real evil in the Big Three and US industry in general: unions. When the concession-weary United Auto Workers balked at GOP demands for a near-immediate reduction in worker wages and benefits, Corker urged President Bush to force-feed wage cuts to UAW workers in any White House-sponsored bailout.

(L to R: Stefan Jacoby -VW, Phil Bredesen, Bob Corker)

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Dirty deeds done dirt cheap! Special holidays, Sundays and rates!

The Southern Republicans are full of contradictions. Downright hypocrisy might be a better description. Shelby staunchly opposes universal health care—a major factor in the Big Three’s financial troubles since they operate company plans—yet the foreign automakers he defends benefit greatly from the government-run health care programs in their countries.

And another thing...

The idea of working people joining together to have a united voice across the table from management scares most Southern politicians to death. After all, they go to the same country clubs as management. When Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker warned of Democratic opponent Ronnie Musgrove’s ties to the “Big Labor Bosses” in this year’s US Senate race, he was protecting the “Big Corporate Bosses” who are his benefactors.

Can we get a little more local with this discussion?
Who are the biggest friends/foes of working people in K-town?

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

The heart of Southern conservatism is the preservation of a status quo that serves elite interests.

The socioeconomic struggle is at the heart of many battles that are clothed in different disguises. Always has been. You just have to peek under the covers. Like "Deep Throat" said, "follow the money", especially if something doesn't make sense. And PT Barnum knew business was premised on finding "a sucker born every minute." So why does Bubba vote against his self interests? 1) He doesn't know any better. 2) He's mad as hell at XXX and his problems are all their fault, just like Rush said. 3) Hello, box of rocks, you just passed Bubba in intelligence!

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

For example, if segregated workers of any color formed a union and went on strike, then the bosses would bring in workers of a different color as scabs. Not only was the strike broken, but the broken unionists ended up blaming the different-color workers rather than the elites who ran the show.

One reason we don't have national health insurance like the rest of the civilized world is because southern Democratic politicians of an earlier generation feared the integration of hospitals.

In fact, I sincerely believe that many white southerners are willing to see their own children live in poverty and illness out of fear that some federal program might, just might, help some black or brown child somewhere.

...let's get this out of the way. It is access to education and ignorance that holds the hoi polloi back but that is not the same thing as stupidity. If you don't know and someone threatens you in an authoritative manner and you have no one to go to in order to ask if the bully is telling the truth then you've no recourse. That is the situation for so many here. Class pervades every inch of southern society to the point where people who grow up in generational poverty do NOT have any friends or family members who have any education beyond their own. East Tennessee is actually more fortunate than much of the South in this regard but I'm sure all of you can attest that even here it's a pervasive problem.

What we need is more fighters -- more people with specialized knowledge who are willing to connect with poor and working class people in a non-arrogant/demeaning way. Someone mentioned elitism and let me say this about that: is it any wonder that people who've been ground down for generations by people with fancy degrees pretending to look out for they're interests would be suspicious of people with fancy degrees saying they're looking out for their interests? The trust is broken but it can be reestablished.

And yes, as people with fancy degrees claiming to be looking out for their interests the burden is on us to prove we are trustworthy.