How To Win Back the Working Class

Please ignore arguments that Democrats should just cut them loose.

Jonathan Chait, a writer I greatly admire, is irritated with me today because he thinks I mischaracterized something he wrote. I don’t think I did. You’ll find a brief exchange over the matter at the bottom of my latest New Republic piece, which is largely a criticism of the notion that Democrats should cut the working class loose—an argument I ascribe to Chait that Chait says he never made and never would make. We report, you decide.

The ultimate purpose of my piece is not to piss off Jon Chait but rather to ponder ways that the Democrats can win back the working class. That turns out to be the subject of 10 essays published in the latest Washington Monthly. I don’t agree with all these pieces, but they’re all well worth reading. I advise that you do so. You should also read this piece on the subject by Eric Redman, author of The Dance of Legislation

But the absolute most important thing you should do is read my piece here, because it’s important; because it’s written by my favorite person in the whole wide world; and because it isn’t getting the traffic it deserves.