IWF's Charlotte Hays writes about the Washington Post review of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s new book, This Is Our Fight: The Battle To Save America’s Middle Class, highlighting the apparent disconnect that continues between liberal, far-left thought leaders and actual middle class Americans. Hays quotes the Post review, including one line in particular that gets to very heart of why Warren, Hillary Clinton and other elite members of their party have trouble connecting with the middle class Warren claims to want to save.
“Warren sees the world through the narrow lens of economic interests, ignoring the deeply held values and beliefs that often determine people’s politics. This attitude is condescending, but more important, it limits Warren’s understanding of America – and why her party lost so badly.”
Elizabeth Warren will never be able to “save America’s middle class” until she learns more about what the American middle class feels, believes or has experienced. America’s middle class, while ethnically, economically and politically diverse, is led in large part, by a set of simple, sincere values that no longer hold sway with America’s coastal, liberal elites. Simply put, they believe in their country, their community and their families. They are willing to work as hard as necessary to achieve their goals, care for their families and help those in need. They resent when big government and disconnected politicians tell them they don’t pay enough in taxes or give enough free stuff to folks who aren’t in so much need.
Warren’s attempts to define herself in her book as a middle-class warrior fall flat, because she does not appear to “get” the values by which most Americans are led.
Warren is a master of the of the “us vs them” mantra by which she attempts to convince all Americans that they are part of some victimized group, and everyone else is out to get them and take what is rightfully theirs. Her speeches are peppered with phrases like “good guys and bad guys” with the clear meaning being that you, in the audience, are the good guys, and everyone else “out there” are out to get you. Only Elizabeth Warren, and her progressive partners, can protect you and get you what you really deserve.
Real life for middle class Americans is a complex web of daily budget battles, personal struggles, and family challenges; balancing the cost of a gallon of milk vs a gallon of gas, health insurance premiums that have skyrocketed, elderly parents who require expensive nursing care, family members who struggle with mental health issues, and the sure belief that they will never be able to afford to retire.
Warren’s prescription of expensive big government programs, expansive bureaucracy and intrusive regulations create more barriers for the middle class, not fewer.
And therein lies the deep, dividing disconnect between Elizabeth Warren’s view of the American middle class, and the actual experience of those Americans.
Sen. Warren understands that writing a book about the middle class is a good way to start down the path toward a presidential run. But when it comes to the middle class, she has some learning to do.