Up until now, the left has had its own answer, albeit a remarkably condescending one. Liberals have concluded that people like Joe simply don’t understand their own interests. In “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” Thomas Frank theorized that blue collar voters have ignored their economic interests because of an allegedly delusive belief in a “liberal elite” pushing a left-wing social agenda. In part, it’s the issue Barack Obama was addressing when he told liberals at a San Francisco fundraiser that, because economically distressed workers had been underserved by government, they “get bitter, [and] they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Joe the Plumber’s great achievement was stripping bare those pretensions. He made it clear that he understands his economic self-interest perfectly well, thank you. And he isn’t interested in supporting a politician who asks him to mortgage his dreams for the future in exchange for a handout today.
There are still many people like Joe the Plumber in America. We’ll find out just how many on Election Day. In the meantime, their views were well-represented by a family friend, a guy who’s working eighty hours a week in order to succeed at a new job and support a young family. Agreeing with Joe the Plumber, he said, “I don’t want their money, I don’t want their “help,” and I don’t need their sympathy. I just want to be free.”
Amen, brother.
Carol Platt Liebau
Carol Platt Liebau is an attorney, political commentator and guest radio talk show host based near New York. Learn more about her new book, "Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Hurts Young Women (and America, Too!)"
here.