Aaron Huertas
1 min readAug 25, 2017

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Well said. I grew up working class in NJ in a town that went big for Trump. I agree with your assessment and would add two other helpful ways of thinking about this. First, working class white people have varying levels of latent class and racial resentment. In a lot of cases, campaigns stoke one or the other. Progressives should be comfortable stoking class resentment, especially at a time of high income inequality. (It worked for FDR and I hear that guy was good at winning elections.) And it might also have the effect of reducing how active racial resentment becomes. Second, universal benefits are universal…racist people get them, too. So it’s worth reminding ourselves that progressive policies are supposed to help everyone and that ending the policies that perpetuate systemic racism can also help reduce personal racism. I liked how your stories about union organizing addressed this at such a personal level. It’s right on.

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Aaron Huertas

Democracy is pretty cool. We should try it some time. Voting rights, science policy, political communication and grassroots activism.