Last week I wrote about the GOP’s mission to become the party of the multiracial working class, and how the Democrats are allowing it to happen. What’s persuaded me most of the reality of this phenomenon is the writing of Ruy Teixeira, formerly of the Center for American Progress and now of the American Enterprise Institute. Ruy writes at The Liberal Patriot, which I recommend highly.
Ruy has closely tracked the massive shift of the white working class away from the Democrats and toward the Republicans, and now he’s been following what may over time become an equally big shift by working class Latinos. A smaller but no less notable shift is also taking place among black voters, and the shift may even be seeping into the Asian vote.
Ruy’s prognostication is especially poignant — and especially ironic — because in 2002, along with John Judis, he predicted the coalition of workers and professionals that came together in the Obama coalition in his book, The Emerging Democratic Majority. I had no idea at the time, but when I caught up with Ruy in New York for the interview I made into this video, it was the day of the twentieth anniversary of the release of the book.
I’ll be doing more video interviews of this sort in the future, so I hope you enjoy this short one with Ruy.
The Realignment