Trump or Biden (Philadelphia, Lancaster, York: college, wages, quality of life)

[Marie Joseph]

Originally Posted by jFug

I'm Ridin' with Biden.

We need a president who is interested in representing ALL Americans, not just their respective bases.

Also, if you do not believe in science you do not deserve to hold office, imho.

Also voted for Biden, for essentially the same exact reasons. We don't need someone who caters only to their base in the White House and Trump's anti-science mentality has caused a lot of damage.

I also don't want someone in there who refuses to listen to the experts as Trump has repeatedly refused to do. We deserve much better than Trump.

[Muinteoir]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Great post, I agree wholeheartedly.

It's ironic and just plain sad, too, that the most economically abysmal and struggling parts of Pennsylvania have bought so gullably into conservative politics.

The GOP couldn't care less about white working-class voters, most of whom vote in ridiculously large numbers for Republicans. But no, because they're "sticking it" to Pelosi or the "crazy liberals" or whatever other bullsh*t the orange man says, that's all that counts.

Four years later, these down-on-their-luck rural towns are in the same damn place they were in 2016, no matter how much they delude themselves into thinking otherwise. TRUMP BROUGHT BACK 5 COAL JOBS, they'll say.

Good luck with that.

I grew up in Appalachia and my dad's side of the family hails specifically from the Northern Tier of PA. My lifelong friends are these people. I completely agree that Republican manipulation of white working class people has been egregious. The Republicans continue to consolidate their reign over white, rural America through:

1. Philosophically, they reiterate the limited and outdated notions of freedom that pose the "individual" as compromised by group/collective-oriented liberation. This rhetoric poses government as an existential threat to the individual's livelihood, as opposed to a means for working class people to yield power. The latter is used not only to gain power and votes from rural America, but also to conceal how government is used to serve the billionaire class.

2. They reiterate the outdated fears around gun ownership, using the tactics stated in item 1 to convince their base that the government hopes to "steal all of their guns." Again, they work to inhibit a broadened sense of freedom in which, collectively, we create sensible gun ownership laws with an enhanced ability to acheive the freedom to live.

3. They use dog whistles or explicit racisms/xenophobias to convince white working class people that foreigners or people of color are the reason for their hardship. They use this to conceal the way in which the working class generate wealth for the billionaire class.

It is all a sad state of affairs, but I am convinced that a progressive movement in the tune of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the likes is our best bet at persuading the upcoming generation of white, rural Americans that another path is possible.

[Independentthinking83]

Originally Posted by Marie Joseph

Also voted for Biden, for essentially the same exact reasons. We don't need someone who caters only to their base in the White House and Trump's anti-science mentality has caused a lot of damage.

I also don't want someone in there who refuses to listen to the experts as Trump has repeatedly refused to do. We deserve much better than Trump.

Many people feel the same way. Trump is going to get blown out on election night. The middle of the road sane people have to save the country. Biden isn’t perfect but he isn’t a toxic Dbag either.

I want a boring president that doesn’t tweet, drop dynamite on a fire and keeps their mouth shut while doing and changing very little.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by Muinteoir

It is all a sad state of affairs, but I am convinced that a progressive movement in the tune of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the likes is our best bet at persuading the upcoming generation of white, rural Americans that another path is possible.

After decades of government programs, white Appalachia in PA is still poor and black ghettoes in Philly are still poor.

Republicans wonder why poor blacks still vote Democrat while Democrats wonder why poor whites vote Republican (since Reagan).

I agree that Populism is the answer although I'll take Trump's populism over Bernie's. However, the forces of the Establishment are extremely powerful. You are seeing Republicans back Biden because Biden represents the Establishment.

If Bernie was running against Jeb Bush, then don't think for a minute you wouldn't see plenty of Establishment Dems backing Jeb.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

Sorry, that's a Biden mentality. Even Democrat Matt Cartwright (08-Scranton) "says" he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

I recently bought a Maytag washer, made in U.S.A. I tried to also buy a Maytag electric range but the factory was too backed up with orders, so I settled for a GE "assembled in USA" model. Everyday things are made in the USA, not just "fancy" items. If you are pro-American worker then why are you buying a Samsung, Haier, or LG washer?

Pharmaceuticals used to be manufactured in New Jersey and Puerto Rico. They are almost all manufactured in China now. And we run short of antibiotics and other lifesaving drugs during a pandemic, which come out of China with some regularity. Why do we put up with that?

Bill Clinton signed legislation passed by a Republican congress in 1996 that began phasing out Puerto Rico's tax favorability for pharmaceutical manufacturing. That opened the door for those jobs to be shipped to China. What are our leaders doing to bring those jobs back? Puerto Rico is in a shambles and needs billions of dollars in aid to rebuild after a hurricane that happened years ago. If they still had industrial jobs they could rebuild on their own, with much less federal help.

I think you misread what I posted. My point that "Nobody is bringing manufacturing back to the US." is correct. The Maytag made in the USA washer you bought was always made here. They didn't send every factory job to China, just a lot of them. They will not move factories from China back to the USA.

I agree with everything you wrote starting at "Bill Clinton", which is why Trump and the GOP have been a total failure.

[blazerj]

Sticking to PA only

538 shows Biden ahead in every PA poll conducted since early September (I didn't scroll past that). The latest one is 51% to 46%
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com.../pennsylvania/

[NewtownBucks]

Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj

By voting for any candidate who is not Biden or Trump, you are effectively relinquishing any power you have over electing the next president.

Correct, it is an admission that both candidates are so horrible that I am indifferent as to the winner.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by NewtownBucks

Correct, it is an admission that both candidates are so horrible that I am indifferent as to the winner.

You might find their politics equally horrible in comparison to your beliefs. But I find it hard to believe any objective human being wouldn't find one to have particularly abhorrent personal character compared to the other. That's fact, at this point.

[HereToFarm]

Voting for Trump. The way Democratic Governors and Mayors across America handled the virus and the mass rioting was horrifying, and I don't care to see how much worse it could get if they're ever given power on a federal level again.

[FrozenI69]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

After decades of government programs, white Appalachia in PA is still poor and black ghettoes in Philly are still poor.

Republicans wonder why poor blacks still vote Democrat while Democrats wonder why poor whites vote Republican (since Reagan).

I agree that Populism is the answer although I'll take Trump's populism over Bernie's. However, the forces of the Establishment are extremely powerful. You are seeing Republicans back Biden because Biden represents the Establishment.

If Bernie was running against Jeb Bush, then don't think for a minute you wouldn't see plenty of Establishment Dems backing Jeb.

I voted for Biden so that Bernie doesn’t end up being the breadwinner for the Democratic Party, because he criticizes Modi way too much.
I hate Trump, but I’m a pretty big supporter of modi because his policies helped modernize rail access from the airport to my family in India. Having to vote between someone who will damage my life vs my other family members (Trump vs Bernie) is not a choice I was willing to make.
At least Biden isn’t openly anti India, even though he made a poor joke about 7-11.