Whither the Working Class Hero?

The Los Angeles Times again demonstrates that they are out of touch with most Americans by loudly proclaiming that the working class has no "true champion." Even if we accept such a notion. There are many people, activities, and experiences that not only are colored by a working class sensibility but have progressive possibilities. Do I need to list them?

Al Franken. While using an air of righteously angry psuedo-intellectual swagger, Franken says that the emperor has no clothes on and neither do his friends. Franken says what needs to be said while making a caustic joke that would warm the heart of many in the working class who remember the game of arm punching and flinching. There are many readers who are not part of an "insular left" as Crazy eyed Ann Coulter have called Franken readers.

Heavy Metal. Say what you will, but heavy metal (and I would not include all hair "metal" bands here) speaks to disenfrachisement, alienation, and isolation that most of the working class experience on a daily basis. Now, this is not to say that there are not problems with heavy metal such as the view of women and embracing of violence but look at who listens to heavy metal and their backgrounds. These people want change and they want to make it, they simply lack direction and meaningful goals.

Michael Moore. Moore uses an everyman appeal while taking on corporate giants, mean spirited money grubbing politicians, and the fanatics of the right wing who lie, cheat, and use their influence to control the world and reshape it to best meet their interests. He is beloved back home in Flint, Michigan and lets face it millions of Americans embraced Roger and Me, The Big One, and now especially Farenheit 9-11. Forget the pathetic partisan lie that Moore is rejected by the everyday people he represents, the success of F9-11 demonstrates that many people are interested in listening to what progressives have to say.

Wrestling, Nascar, Horse racing, county fairs...I can go on and on... just because many of us in the online communities want to reject such activities as corny or silly, there are possibilities for community building. In fact, if you are looking for a perfect intellectual and activist working class champion, you are going to come up empty handed. However, if you are willing to look at individuals and activities warts and all, you can find working class people and their champions. If you can look without jaundiced eyes, that is.

July 18, 2004
How the Left Lost Its Heart
Now, the working class has no true champion
By Thomas Frank

(Thomas Frank is editor of the Baffler magazine and author of "What's the Matter With Kansas?" This article was adapted from that book by arrangement with Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt)

WASHINGTON - That our politics have been shifting rightward for more than 30 years is a generally acknowledged fact of American life. That this movement has largely been brought about by working-class voters whose lives have been materially worsened by the conservative policies they have supported is less commented upon.

And yet the trend is apparent, from the "hard hats" of the 1960s to the "Reagan Democrats" of the 1980s to today's mad-as-hell "red states." You can see the paradox firsthand on nearly any Main Street in Middle America, where "going out of business" signs stand side by side with placards supporting George W. Bush.