Racism is their best weapon: How the 1 percent divided the American people and conquered the country

Racism is their best weapon: How the 1 percent divided the American people and conquered the country

"For the past 40 years, the right wing has peddled a winning strategy. It sells the economic agenda of the 1% to working- and middle-class white voters through a hidden formula: Fear People of Color → Hate Government → Trust the Market and the 1% And they’ve been selling us this idea even as it has hurt Americans of all races whose wages have plummeted and economic insecurity has soared. Ronald Reagan was able to draw millions of former Democrats to the GOP with this race-baiting strategy. He gave us the fictional character of the “welfare queen” to prey on resentment against struggling African American families, but the real target was government and labor unions. Why? Because these are the only public institutions powerful enough to hold corporations and the wealthy accountable."