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Reminder: "coastal elites" is a right-wing dog whistle meant to delegitimize anyone who lives in a cosmopolitan or racially diverse area, and claim that they are somehow less worthy of political representation than mostly-white communities. https://twitter.com/newsweek/status/1322251902499737600
The term makes no sense taken literally, because 1) not all Democratic areas are coastal, 2) not all Democratic areas are particularly wealthy or politically influential, and 3) the Republican base is white and rural, but not particularly low-income or working class.
Our entire political culture, left AND right, has spun a poisonous fantasy about rural whites driven to frustration by poverty and the political overrepresentation of urban politics, where racism is just a tool used by the elites to keep people voting against their own interests.
But that ignores pretty much every reality of how America really works.
Our system overrepresents rural areas, not cities. Rural whites are mostly middle class, not poor. Impoverished rural areas are mostly Black, Latino, and Native American.
Our system overrepresents rural areas, not cities. Rural whites are mostly middle class, not poor. Impoverished rural areas are mostly Black, Latino, and Native American.
I don't think Bernie meant any harm by using this term — he's just trying to appeal to rural voters.
But the "coastal elites" trope was created specifically to whitewash Republican racial grievances and dress them up as something else. We get nowhere by accepting its premise.
But the "coastal elites" trope was created specifically to whitewash Republican racial grievances and dress them up as something else. We get nowhere by accepting its premise.
