Polarization

We look at the US as being polarized by political party, and there for sure is a lot of that. I have wondered about the “why” behind that, especially the statistical political difference between men and women.  

In my world, there isn’t much of a difference in political persuasion between men and women. While I work with a few men who are, um, on the wrong side (one actually believes Haitians are eating pet dogs and cats, despite my best attempts to provide facts) I pretty much live in a liberal bubble. The people in my circle are for the most part educated, and employed (except those who have retired.) But the men outside my world who are MAGA-heads? They tend to be uneducated and unemployed.

I saw the two charts below, and I think they explain a lot. Since 1979, the percentage of men working (at anything) has decreased, while the percentage of employed women has increased. The male decrease is skewed by men without college degrees. That drop from 89% to 81%, with the attendant increase in population means literally MILLIONS (if not tens of millions) of men have left the workforce during their prime earning years. Source for the first chart. Source for the second chart.

Part of the reason can be seen in this article from 2019 which stuck me when I read it, and I thought it was worth digging up for you. The upshot is that as coal mines shut down, displacing the men who had worked in them, the women took over being the breadwinners, most commonly by working in health care. In addition, the article notes that many became alcoholics and/or addicts, with mental health challenges, like depression. From the article:

The share of women in the work force rose substantially in places throughout Central Appalachia, as well as in parts of the industrial Midwest and the rural South. But few places have seen a more dramatic change than Letcher County, in hilly Eastern Kentucky, where for generations the archetypal worker was a brawny, coal-dusted man in reflective overalls. Just 10 years ago, nearly three-fifths of the work force was male. Now the majority is female.

So, yes, some of the decrease in male workers relate to jobs disappearing since 1979 (thanks Ronnie Raygun and company) in historically male-dominated fields like mining, factory work, steel mills, etc. But that doesn’t explain why men didn’t change fields to work in other areas.

I struggle with understanding why people don’t work, when they have the choice. There are certainly people who CANNOT work, and I don’t mean them. But I look at myself: I’ve had five disparate careers that each required “self-reinvention.” I had to move from state to state, I needed to dig deep to make the changes. Admittedly, I had the ability to do things like go to grad school, and many people don’t have that option.

But there are all sorts of training programs that could launch these men into new careers. There’s the military, AmeriCorps, apprenticeship programs, state-funded training programs. Most of these options are either free, or they pay you to participate.

Could it be that these men define themselves in an immutable way, such as “I am a steelworker. I won’t do anything else.”?

It may also be that living in my bubble, I don’t understand the challenge of leaving an area where one’s ancestors have lived for generations, or a fear of trying something new. It may honestly be a limitation on my part in not understanding why these men just don’t work. Please leave any insights you may have in the comments.

Now, let’s look at earnings.

Years ago, I did tech support for a sales organization. Their saying was “Money is how we keep score.” While I personally don’t feel that way, I know a lot of people do. I look at the chart above and it seems clear that at least some of those less-than college educated men disdain women because they make more. That is, a woman with a college degree earns more than a man with less education. And anyone with a job makes more than someone who chooses not to work. And that’s before we get to incels. Think about it. More women than men are college educated. Since 2014, more women than men have attained college degrees. Source. Currently, not only do men matriculate to college at a rate much lower than women, but their completion rate is also lower. Source.

I’ve read in the past that a lot of how people view the world is imprinted when they are under 18. Think about yourself: which decade had the best music? Likely the one when you were a teenager. Whether you still wear it or not, what was the best hairstyle? Which decade had the best clothes? The best food?

And then there is family structure: for a lot of people what USED to make sense was a nuclear family, whether or not they belonged to one. It became for many, a way on looking back at a simpler time, when one salary (generally male) could support a family. For a lot of young men, who probably never had that experience, they were told by grandparents how things used to be. And they want to be that breadwinner.

Statistically, more young men than women want children. Source.

There are a lot of articles indicating that young unmarried men want relationships and/or marriage with women, but the women won’t even consider dating them if they are Republicans. I extrapolate from that (I haven’t seen any data, I’m just guessing here) that gay men who are Democrats also won’t date Republican men.

Putting it all together, it makes sense to me that an unemployed man, especially a young one, who lacks advanced education, and is living a marginal life, potentially in his parents’ basement, would actually support Republicans up and down the ticket.

This greatly saddens me, but it explains their bent toward violence, and their love of all things nationalistic Nazi. They listen to white, male, Republicans up and down the ticket talking about being strong, a US returning to manufacturing, restoring POWER to those who have lost it, not to mention subservient women.

In 2015, I watched then-candidate Donald rally in Alabama. It was before they restricted the press, so part of the rally focused cameras on the audience. And I watched the audience. And I understood why this a**hole could win. The audience I saw was all white. Mostly middle aged, but a smattering younger or older. Dressed casually, generally in tee shirts and jeans. But their faces! They looked up at the stage in awe, genuine awe. Here was someone talking to THEM, reminding them of what America was a generation earlier. Promising to take the country back to that era. Giving them a place to put their blame for what had happened. Over the course of the rally, they started nodding their heads, smiling. BELIEVING that back was possible, and wanting it more than they ever wanted anything.

More recently, I’ve been watching interviews with men who support the Convicted Felon talk about how he’s “so macho, like me”. (Not making that up, but I don’t know how to get clips off the television.) I listen to legal immigrants explain that THEY won’t be deported because they’ve got green cards. Completely oblivious to the fact that they’ll easily get swept up in the raids.

I’m pretty sure that if we had mandatory voting, these malcontents could carry the election for the side of darkness. Luckily, people CHOOSE whether or not to vote, and most of these guys are incredibly lazy. Too lazy to change careers, or find a first one. Too lazy to get up and out for anything - why should they when they can live vicariously online?

So, those are my conclusions about why THOSE MEN are Republicans. Comments welcome and encouraged, whether you agree or disagree.

I leave you with this today: Andrew Shepherd’s speech from The American President. Imagine Bob Rumson as the Convicted Felon. If you’ve never seen the film, it’s streaming in multiple locations.