Tuesday, Tuesday. Now what?

The NYTimes did an editoral about the choices facing the victorious Congressional Republicans, and what Democrats need to do now. My comment:

Neither this editorial nor the comments so far get to the heart of the matter: the Republican Party has reconstituted itself as a tribe.

Tribe trumps party. There's an Arab saying: "me against my brother; me and my brother against my neighbor; me and my neighbor against the stranger." Members of the Republican tribe see the Democratic Party, top to bottom, as "The Stranger." And they're willing to sacrifice to defeat The Stranger, and get their country back.

The GOP's campaign to turn this into a tribal conflict was aided greatly--though unwittingly--by the Democrats. Time after time after time, from the 1960s to now, the Democratic Party has demanded that white American blue collar workers atone for their ancestors' sins by giving everyone else special favors--in effect, letting them cut in line ahead of Joe Lunchbox.

Affirmative action, polylingual ballots, government employees enjoying vastly greater security and compensation than their private sector counterparts, bending over backwards to accommodate citizens of other countries residing here illegally, demanding that communities abandon traditional Anglo cultural markers like the Nativity scene in front of the courthouse--and of course, every single one of these things rubbed in Joe Lunchbox's face by Fox News, Rush, Savage et al, shouting imprecations on the radio 24x7 for decades now.

All the pundits agree that this election was about the economy. Nonsense. That's the reason people gave, but 80% of voters have jobs and homes they're not about to lose. Most people use their powers of reason to wrap plausible-sounding reasons around emotional decisions. "Why'd you buy that red Beemer convertible?" "Great resale value." Yeah, right.

The Republican Party is in bed with rich people who look like what Joe Lunchbox would like to be (and never will). The Democrats are in bed with every socioethnic minority who look and sound like what Joe Lunchbox doesn't want to be.

Every time Joe Lunchbox phones a business help line or a government help line and hears "Si quiere hablar en Español, empuje numero tres," he feels like a stranger in his own country. Every time he hits the Search button on his car radio and, if he's in the Southwest, a third of the stations don't broadcast in English, he feels like a stranger in his own country. Ditto when Fox News gleefully broadcasts the latest "Gay Pride Parade" footage, or photos of a publicly funded art exhibit featuring a crucifix dipped in a jar of urine.

I'm neither justifying nor criticizing either side of all these cultural debates. I am pointing out that the sense of cultural dislocation for about half of Americans is profound--and completely mystifying to most urbanites who, like me, live comfortably in highly multicultural surroundings. But I speak more than one language, have traveled in 17 countries, and have a degree in sociology. Joe Lunchbox may have never left the country--perhaps not even his state--and wasn't taught evolution in his high school (it isn't taught in rural America; did you know that?).

And every time he complains--even a little--about any of this stuff, all any Democratic pol or voter will say is to accuse him of being a "racist," a "know-nothing," a "hater," a "xenophobe," a "homophobe," and suchlike. Democrats do not acknowledge that he has any rights whatsoever to his own language and culture in his own country.

I voted for Obama and will again. But even I was appalled when, during his campaign for president, he said we have to "bring undocumented workers" "out of the shadows" because it would be too expensive and inhumane to try to find and deport them all.

That was a false choice argument, and he knew it. No one but a few wack jobs have even proposed such a thing. Most who oppose illegal immigration simply want E-Verify universally applied--to eliminate those shadows.

And the point here is that Joe Lunchbox, hearing Obama say that, smelled something fishy. He couldn't identity that as a false choice argument. But he could tell he was being lied to.

So yes, Joe Lunchbox will be ill-served by the Republicans he just voted into office. But if my fellow Democrats think it was just because of Republican dirty tricks (which were legion, admittedly) and the recession--then they are doomed to lose the next election as well.

The Democrats don't have to become socially regressive. But they do have to show a little respect for the people whose votes they need to survive outside their educated, urban enclaves. --to show that they understand how they've come to feel like strangers in their own land. And to adopt policies that show a little of the cultural sensitivity to Anglos that has been lavished on everyone else.

[This comment was highlighted by the NYT; it's #185 in the comments after the editorial.]