Strangely enough, George W. Bush has recently put together most of the elements of the old FDR Democratic coalition. The new Democratic coalition is missing the Southern racist elements of the early and mid-sixties but included the professional, upper-middle classes once solidly Republican. This new coalition was predicted, in the book The Emerging Democratic Majority, by John Judis and Ruy Teixeira.
The blue-collar Reagan Democrats that a few years ago voted Republican on social issues have been pressed severely by the economic policies of Bush Republicanism. Bush Republicanism has been concerned in economic terms with re-distributing wealth upward to the wealthiest of the wealthy. The real world impact of this economic and financial elitism has been a huge political advantage to 21st century Democrats.
Former Republican guru Kevin Phillips(author of the 1970's Republican standard, The Emerging Republican Majority) wrote about the economic elitism of Bush Republicanism in his latest classic, The American Dynasty. The "one percenter" economic policies drove this formerly militant Republican out of the Republican Party. He saw the coming impact of the Bush Republican economic policies long before most Americans.
The arrogance of the Bush Republicans seems to make them think that real world policies can be hidden by slick PR campaigns, rigged election systems and control of the media. For generations, the Bushes have been part of the financial and political power elite. They simply do not understand the common working man in America. Their policies clearly indicate that they do not care about the common working man in America.
Bush Republicanism is at its very core a very rich man's political ideology. The poor, the working class, the middle class, the upper middle class and the barely rich are not important in the economic programs or policies of the Bush Republicans. Bush Republicanism is in economic terms very much like the pre-Great Depression Republicanism of the last century. The rich get richer and everyone else gets poorer as a result of government policy choices.
These political policy choices made by the Bush Republicans are hurting the vast majority of Americans financially. Growing numbers of empty pockets are rebuilding the FDR Democratic coalition in a stronger, purer form. We have George W. Bush to both blame and thank for this situation.
