A Democrat member of Congress from Ohio admitted in an interview published Tuesday that her party is out of touch with working class Americans.
“They just can’t understand,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09) told The Hill. “They can’t understand a family that sticks together because that’s what they have. Their loved ones are what they have, their little town, their home, as humble as it is — that’s what they have. Respect it. It was so insensitive.”
Kaptur, 74, is the longest-serving female member of Congress, and has represented Ohio’s Ninth District, which includes Toledo and other typically-industrial midwestern towns, since 1983.
Kaptur came to her conclusion, she said, after suggesting plans for economic reinvigoration in the midwest. According to Kaptur’s account, another Democrat member of Congress said that instead of fixing the midwest’s economic downturn, Americans should simply “leave” the area.
“”Well, Congresswoman Kaptur, the answer is: Leave,'” that member reportedly said.
The decline in economic prosperity in the midwest, once America’s greatest manufacturing hub, has been well-documented. Many “blue collar” jobs once held by Americans in the region have been shipped overseas to cut labor costs.
Katpur told The Hill that “it’s been very hard for regions like mine, which have had great economic attrition, to get fair standing, in my opinion,” and that representing a working class district makes her feel like a minority in her own party.
“Kaptur shared with The Hill a chart ranking congressional districts by median household income, and their party representation. Of the top 20 wealthiest districts, 19 are represented by Democrats,” The Hill reported.
For generations, Democrats have prided themselves on being the party of the American worker, particularly with their support for labor unions. But many have noticed that the left-wing party has recently formed a habit of betraying the working class, while cozying up to powerful special interests that it might once have opposed.
President Joe Biden, for example, who harped on his “blue collar” upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania on the campaign trail, hauled in $74 million from Wall Street, much more than his Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump. Alongside Wall Street, employees at Silicon Valley tech giants donated vast sums of money to the Biden campaign.
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
