So I'll ask the question: Why are the Dems good for the middle class? What is it about their policies that would make them appealing to people who (by definition) are already earning sufficient income to provide for their own food, housing, education, transportation, health care, etc?
"By definition" the middle class typically relies on public education (government funded), various government housing programs/subsidies (Freddie/Fannie Mac, mortgage tax credit), rely on employee funded health care and feel little ability to change that into a different policy, rely on the child care credits for their taxes, Pell grants and student loans for college, etc.
I wouldn't say "relies on them", but they do gain some benefit from these. But here's the "talk the talk versus walk the walk" part: How much of those things have Democrats made better via their federal economic policies over the last 4 years? I mean, public education is funded 90% by states and local governments. Housing assistance only minimally benefits the middle class (assuming we're talking about people over say $50k/year and that might even be low). Dems want to eliminate the mortgage tax credit. Employee funded health care is funded by their employees, not the government. If anything, those who already had that are now facing greater health care costs because of Obama care (someone has to pay more to cover all those new people who wont be paying much or anything, right?). Child care credits? Not really anything the Dems have touched, have they? Student loans? Again, not really being touched, except for a movement to forgive loans for those who don't make enough money to pay them back (which means, not people in the middle class). Again, someone's going to have to make up that difference, so it'll be those in the middle class paying more for their loans in order to cover for those who borrowed money but couldn't pay it back.
Not seeing how the Dems are good out of that list. How about instead of just listing off stuff, you maybe explain how Dems are good for the middle class with regard to them? That's part of my point I think. It seems like the Dems like to do what you just did, rattle off a bunch of stuff that they claim helps the middle class, but when you actually stop and look at them closely, they really don't help the middle class at all.
This would be a bit less obvious, if the things they list aren't exactly the same things they've been listing as helping the poor for decades now
. I get how student loan forgiveness helps the poor. I get how child tax credits do. And housing assistance, and most of that stuff. It's the shift of listing that stuff when supporting their position of "we're good for the poor", to "we're good for the middle class". I mean, they didn't even change the list. They just changed the group they claim it helps. And they did this without seeming to bother to make the case to support that argument. They just say it. And they say it a lot. Over and over and over.
Which is why I brought up the topic. It seems a bit disjointed to me. Clearly, the same policies that are good for the poor can't also be good for the middle class, right?
The middle class is acutely aware that cuts to unemployment security and food programs could easily affect them in the future should they lose their jobs.
No. They're acutely aware that the spending on those things makes it more likely that they'll lose their jobs and thus end out needing them. Um... And at the risk of pointing out the obvious. They wont be middle class anymore. So what you're saying is that it helps the middle class to create policies designed to help them if/when they aren't middle class anymore. Why not actually make it easier for people to get into and stay in the middle class in the first place? I think people would much rather have a good paying job than a safety net for if they lose it.
I think many in the middle class aren't especially opposed to strong safety nets for the lower class because they actually know and work with people either in the lower class or on the cusp. In short, I don't think you have any real idea what it means to be middle class these days.
If those strong safety nets come at a cost that increases the number of people needing them, I think they are. When someone in the middle class has a friend who's poor or working class, you know what they want? Not bigger government programs to help their friends out. They want their friends to get a good paying job. That's the way to help people.
IMO people in the middle class are acutely aware that what differentiates them from someone who is poor is the job they hold. That's it. So the way to protect their own positions and to help others achieve it as well, is to support policies that create jobs, not policies that help people who don't have them. That's how one becomes middle class. And no amount of government assistance will do that.
Now, I don't believe for a second that you're "curious" rather than looking for a debate so I'll leave it at that.
What? It can't be both?