Who will win the Straight, Middle-Class White Male Vote?

[YoungDemCA]

Certainly a more monolithic and ideologically homogeneous voting bloc than "Women" or "Minorities"-yet no one seems to treat Straight, Middle-Class White Men like any other minority group. They are hardly ever mentioned as a group-certainly not as explicitly as I have mentioned them in this thread.

They are hardly ever mentioned, because they are considered part of-or equal to-the "norm" or 'the default." That's what privilege does-it makes the privileged groups "normal" and everyone else "Other" or "unusual" or "special interests." They are the ones who shout the loudest about "rugged individualism" and "traditional values"-ignoring, of course, that people who are not Straight Middle-Class White Men are individuals too, with their own stories and traditions and values that might actually be different from said "norm"-that is, if straight middle-class white men (as a group) were humble enough and curious enough to listen, to show interest in those who are different from them.

Suffice to say, a vast majority of this demographic, this privileged minority, votes accordingly-for the Republican Party. And there's no sign of that trend slowing down any time soon. But even among those who claim to support the Democratic Party, latent racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism (among other prejudices) can periodically be observed. Those of us at DU know that the bigotry of the privileged knows no ideological or partisan boundaries.

No, you don't get a cookie or brownie points for being one of the 20-25 percent (if that) of straight, middle-class white men who vote Democratic, for not being the kind of bigoted asshole that the Republican Party attracts like flies to cow shit. That's the bare minimum here. What you do get is the opportunity to check your own privilege, to challenge prejudice in yourself and in others, and to stand up and speak out against those who continue to deny women, minorities, the poor, the LGBT community, and all other oppressed, disenfranchised, and marginalized groups the same rights and opportunities that you-the straight, white, middle-class men-take for granted on a daily basis.

-My $0.02.