The Realignment of the Working Class with Batya Ungar-Sargon

On this episode of the American Compass Podcast, Newsweek opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon joins Oren Cass for a wide-ranging conversation about the politics of working-class Americans. The two discuss her new book, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women, and how the political beliefs of working-class Americans have changed in recent years. For more, check out Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women, out now: www.encounterb...

[@vnevala]

I love this conversation, thank you. I'm listening to Batya's book 'Second Class' and it's brilliant.

[@mmhmm1296]

Batya seems to be conflating her pro-Israel perspective with the views of the working class she claims to represent, a conflation that may not hold true. Additionally, her assertion that all Columbia protesters are almost guaranteed to achieve the American dream because of their degrees contradicts Oren Cass's critiques of higher education, which argue that not all degrees have a high return on investment. Furthermore, the calls for professional punishment and blacklisting of protesters are predominantly coming from the professional managerial class (hedge fund managers in some high-profile instances) - rather than from the working class.

[@BruceWing]

By surveys, she’s correct about working class being pro-Israel. Also, as colleges can be classified into 4 tiers (tier 1 being Ivey’s), her assertion regarding Columbia is also correct. Most students go to tier 3 and 4 schools. It’s not that those schools provide a lower quality education per se, but that, on average, the students are less intelligent/less affluent/ less upwardly mobile and thus, benefit less from the network effect over the course of their careers. Exceptions exist of course, but on average….

[@warrenmillsjr3618]

Yeah, I don’t think someone who describes themselves, nonsensically, as a “Trump Marxist” in other interviews, can be counted on for clarity of thought.

[@BruceWing]

@@warrenmillsjr3618 - I didn’t know she said that. Crazy. Marx was correct on a lot of his criticisms of capitalism (he plagiarized many of Adam Smith’s criticisms ), but Marx was so wrong on the socialism/communism.

[@warrenmillsjr3618]

I am a moderate left of center guy in the SF Bay Area; a never -Trumper, never-extremist-woke, person who wants “capitalism with a human face”, and a society not threatened by traditional mores and religious values. A common sense, tolerant existence that America cherishes. I am very skeptical of the Ungar-Sargons, Michael Schellenbergers, Tulsi Gabbards who are born-again right-populists after long stints on the hard left. The historical reductionism and propagandic impulses that served them in their leftist careers are so easily transferred to their activism on the right. Ungar-Sargon’s embrace of Trump’s Deep State conspiracies, outrageous prevaricating, situational “patriotism” in service to himself, and comfortablity with authoritarians will kill the valuable reformist efforts of the conservative movement, that American Compass is forwarding.

[@BruceWing]

@@warrenmillsjr3618 - I am on the constitutionalist right (that struggles with strategic and tactical moves given few on either side seem to support state authority sans no explicit constitutional federal authority)… and I believe you make a thoughtful critique.

[@warrenmillsjr3618]

Thanks, Bruce, I share your constitutional concerns as well.

[@vnevala]

I left the Democratic Party in 2010 after Obama & Holder let the banksters who committed fraud walk free while millions of people lost jobs, pensions, and home equity without ever getting justice. Lately I'm abhorred by the Dems rejection of democracy, their favoring of authoritarian censorship, their fostering of racism, and their lust for foreign wars. I'm also extremely wary of whatever "hidden forces" are now acting as President. I don't like Trump but to me he's not a cause of anything. He's a symptom of the Dems abandoning their working class base.