Why is it so hard for Democrats to get votes from people whose economic interests should lead them to support the party? Is Hillary Clinton right to identify the root cause as the party’s lack of credibility as a protector of national security and to seek a remedy in a hawkish approach to foreign policy? Is the problem primarily cultural, a feeling that liberal elites are hostile to the values and religious beliefs of ordinary Americans? Or is it simply that Democrats have pursued an economic agenda of free trade and deregulation—against the interests of working people—leaving the party defenseless in the face of Republican demagoguery on whatever issue comes to hand?

Debate on these questions was reinvigorated by Thomas Frank’s best-selling What’s the Matter with Kansas?, which asks why attitudes of ordinary Kansans have shifted so far to the right. With Democrats unresponsive to the economic troubles of Middle America, Frank asserts, cultural anti-elitism becomes th...

» Want to continue? Login below:

top  |  print  |  email