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"Orwell also rails against the condescension many on the left display toward those they profess to care most about. Describing a gathering of leftists in London, he says, "every person there, male and female, bore the worst stigmata of sniffish middle-class superiority. If a real working man, a miner dirty from the pit, for instance, had suddenly walked into their midst, they would have been embarrassed, angry and disgusted; some, I should think, would have fled holding their noses.""

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Perhaps thats the problem right there. Your average working man ISN'T a "minor dirty from the pit". The average American doesn't work 9-to-5 in a steal mill, coming home sweaty from work. Your average American doesn't have a gun rack, sipping on lemonade in a red barn on the country side. The average American doesn't push heavy boxes. The average American woman doesn't sit home and bake cookies. In short, the average American isn't a redneck.

The average American lives in mediocre cookie cutter suburban houses. The average American works crappy 9-to-5 jobs in a crappy but air-conditioned cubicle pushing a pencil. The average American might be pushing their kid through college. The average American woman probably works too. The average American doesn't want to have anything to do with rednecks or poor minorities.

As to why socialists tend to be rich snobs. Well, thats easy. They have SO much money if tomorrow they lost 90% of their wealth their lifestyle wouldn't change. So hey, why not do something that feels good. The average American is just a snob about a few months paychecks away from losing their house and going back to living with the "smelly rednecks." We all know about the suburbanite "white flight" don't we? A 5 to 10% loss in their net wealth means reversing that.

The average American is wealthy enough to be able to get away from all those pesky minorities and rednecks but not wealthy enough to be secure that they won't have to move back. Notice how the "rich socialist snobs" are socialists and NOT communists. Not the same thing. Socialism would be enough to push the middle class over the edge down to the level of the poor, but the rich will still be rich.

So yeah, they don't get it. Lumping the poor and the middle class painting them with the same brush is the condescending part.

If Obama [or any Democrat in general] wants to win the white vote and the general election, its not the "working class clinging to guns and God" that he has to worry about. The poor white man will vote for him over McCain any day. Its the white picket fence suburbanite he has to worry about. And off course Democrat is NOT synonymous with socialist. BIG difference.

what do you mean "crappy job". a job that affords what the average american lives like is not crappy. how do you imagine the rest of the world lives, or people in the past lived. Do you really think it is possible for 99% of the population to have "good" jobs or "creative jobs" or whatever the fevered liberal imaginations thinks would happen if only socialism ruled. Work as a subsistence farmer or a rickshaw driver or a refuse collector in some third world nation and tell me about it.

Stop equating liberal with 'socialist'. It's a Republican myth and only works on those who refuse to think for themselves. Only an active and educated populace can effectively govern themselves and if enough people refuse to do so, those who think people can not govern themselves will be proved right. You sir are helping to make that much bleaker out look seem true, not the liberals. They are in fact saving the country from ruin by those who are incapable of analysis, evaluation, and reason.

I meant crappy as in "people will complain" about it. Kinda like working for Lumberg Office Space. Off course with an alternate ending---- you don't become a construction worker in the end or if so, you don't become happy about it.

Fenella, the average American lives above his means, which is why there has not been a huge drop in living standards in the US yet. Most people in the developed world have better lives than the average American. You know how you can tell? Because they can immigrate to the US without any trouble, but very few of them do. People that come to the US for economic reasons come from poor countries. And to them, an average American life looks grand. But that's not exactly who you should compare to.

I tend to agree with Jon Stewart: if you don't think you're better than us, why the hell are you running for president?

And if you believe that Republican candidates don't think they're better that the average Joe, you must be high. You have to be enormously full of yourself in order to believe that you're the man for the most demanding job on the planet.

'Stop equating liberal with 'socialist'. It's a Republican myth and only works on those who refuse to think for themselves.'

Funny how they do that while also equating liberal with fascist. Doublethink?

I tend to agree with Jon Stewart: if you don't think you're better than us, why the hell are you running for president?

Thats a different can of worms. Rich socialists IN GENERAL, not necessarily someone who runs for President, tend to be snobbish not understanding the average folk. Off course its one thing for a President to think they're better than the average folk, but just an activist--- well, thats something else.

Off course Democrat does not equal Socialist. For a Democrat to win an election, they have to demonstrate the the middle class (that would be your average folk) that they're moderate enough, and that they "get it". Sure, you can feel and think, or be better than the average person but you still have to understand them.