Demonizing the Poor

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2. that literally made me ill

especially this:
As Republicans succeeded with this strategy, growing numbers of Democrats in the 1980s became eager to take these political clubs away from the competition. With Bill Clinton and others at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council taking the lead, Democrats began to advance modified versions of Republican ideas as their own and echo calls for tough new approaches to “underclass pathologies.”

After making the promise to “end welfare as we know it” a centerpiece of his 1992 campaign, Clinton oversaw the abolition of the federal entitlement program Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the creation of a tough new behavior-centered welfare regime, and a slew of policy and practical advancements in the construction of mass incarceration. Thus, for many years now, the color of punitive poverty governance has not been red or blue; it has been, as sociologist Joshua Page argues, purple.

For the life of me, I will NEVER understand why Bill Clinton is still popular with black people. Not this black person, mind you, but many.