Forget capitalism and religion. Kool-Aid-ism is the dominant ideology of our age, and it can be consumed by almost anyone -- and is, in startling volumes, regularly.
Where do you begin? With your premises, of course.
Why Conservatives Blame Poverty on the Poor, by Sarah Jones (New Republic)
A new essay by National Review's Kevin Williamson exposes the ideological blind spots of responsibility politics.
Scapegoat, prophet, moron, rogue—the poor white is a shapeshifter. He changes forms as the needs of his beholders change. When liberals need to blame a class for Donald Trump’s presidency, the poor white will do; never mind that two-thirds of all Trump supporters made $50,000 or more a year. When conservatives need to cast liberals as aloof elitists they appoint themselves the poor white’s defenders—until their ideology is threatened, and then it is time to take out the trash.
Because:
Black welfare recipients aren’t the problem; Mexicans aren’t the problem; immigration isn’t the problem. But low wages, a shrinking safety net, subprime mortgages, unattainable health care, impoverished local schools, among all the other locks that trap the poor in place, can and should be pinned to the very system conservatives want to defend. Williamson fixates on the willful stupidity of the poor because he must. If he didn’t, he’d have to indict his own ideology.
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