Members of the Tea Party, the burgeoning conservative movement whose membership is overwhelmingly white, feel they are losing ground to African-Americans and other minority groups, according to analysts who conducted a wide-ranging survey of the attitudes of its members.
Why would white Americans feel they are losing ground to African-Americans and other minority groups?
One answer is that African-Americans and other minority groups are enjoying improved circumstances while those of white communities remain the same.
Another answer might be that the circumstances of white communities have declined while those of African-Americans and other minorities remain the same.
Finally, it may be that the circumstances of white communities are declining while those of African-Americans and other minorities improve.
We can probably agree that the circumstances of African-Americans and other minorities are not improving, if at all, at a rate that white Americans would notice.
My own view, oft repeated, is that the circumstances of the blue collar white working class have declined at a faster rate than other groups, under corporate pressure to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator. White workers historically occupied a privileged position; globalization is eroding that privilege.
Subsequently, you get some very animated reactions, with 99% of the media focus on the reactions -- whether it takes the form of militia groups, vigilante groups, anti-tax constitutionalists, etc., at different points in time -- and almost nothing which relates what these communities are reacting to: global capital.
So we should be talking about that.
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