Anyone who is actually interested in understanding American class dynamics should look at the history of the social CONSTRUCT of race and "whiteness." Who was and wasn't "white" has always changed based on the needs of the uber-affluent to create a protective buffer between themselves and everyone else. (And this isn't exclusive to America. Similar dynamics have played out pretty much non-European area that Europeans 'civilized'.) Digging into immigration policy implementation and development a little can teach one much.
Unfortunately, after having had so many years of being able to tell themselves that no matter their respective situations, at least they weren't N-----s, it is incredibly difficult to convince certain people to conduct an objective review of facts. At its 'settling' what was to be America broke down between those who owned stuff and those who would work for them, period. As I said above, once the numbers got a little hairy for the owners, the workers were broken into groups. Workforce and union membership expands to excluded groups as market needs change, i.e. as one group of workers becomes too expansive for employers and/or union membership flags among the initiated...
As automation progresses there is less need for any of the people and as such, I believe we end up where we are today.
Anyway, I only logged in to ask you (and other sharing your sentiment) how you'd feel about working for $15k a year?
I'm in D.C. and recently attended an event at which an 'educated' person working for a big name think tank floated such jobs as a solution to all this angst (particularly among the downtrodden "white" people, since, after Trump's election and all, they are the focus group du jour).
* Labor unions had state militias called on them and thousands were massacred at the hands of private security agencies during the Mine Wars
* Women had to die in the Triangle massacre before safety became a concern.
* Martin Luther King along with tons of other black people needed to die just to be considered humans.
* Vietnam required the Kent State Massacre.
* How many children and civilians have we had die needlessly at the hands of the police? You can't get a jury to convict them.
The American government has never represented the people. It will take nothing less than large amounts violence to change the country if history is any indicator of the future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fi...
Claiming that both sides favor corporations is to deny reality when it comes to voting records. Republicans have consistently passed legislation that hurt consumers and benefit corporations, another recent example was banning consumers ability to start class action lawsuits against banks.
You have the DNC legislature that was enabled to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a bureau that the GOP voted whole-hardheartedly against and continue to weaken now that they control Congress and the Senate. You have the GOP that put a pro-corporate Justice on SCOTUS that thinks employees should be punished when they aren't willing to risk their life in literal life and death circumstances in ransAm Trucking v. Administrative Review Board.
I'm sorry but there is clearly one party that cares about people and it ain't the fucking GOP.
If not, I'd suggest that you block out some time to do so. You might find the experience to be illuminating.
Whether it be local, state, or federal government, it all works pretty much the same way. And none of it, despite peoples' cries, is functioning outside of how it was designed to.
Ironically, my observation is that gov't employment is often less about knowledge/expertise and more about friendsies, patronage/quotas and malleability/docility.
@ this point, I'm not convinced that the current state of affairs doesn't reflect the complicity of "the people" (who are constantly reminded to aim for "middle-class" (mediocrity)).
Since we'd be working with the same public, changing the # of parties would still likely yield the same result. And I say that as someone who regularly votes on positions not parties or candidates (and is often criticized for doing so).
Usually people get advised to 'follow their dreams' -- which can mean a couple of years of boredom and stress followed by huge debt.