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The Dumbest Theory as to Why Harris Lost in 2024 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-07
Recently, the corporate algorithms have been pushing onto me the theoretical stylings of one Michael Sandel. He’s on the faculty of an Ivy League institution, so his theories and statements are promulgated without question.
The corporate media is eagerly touting Sandel’s theory about why Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election. Their eagerness is partly out of joy at bashing Harris and partly because Sandel's theory feeds the antiworker class-warfare narrative of which the wealthy are so fond.
The Theory
Sandel’s theory, presented in multiple interviews to multiple media outlets, has three premises. The first two are correct premises — that the US is suffering from long-term trends of increasing economic inequality and decreasing opportunities for social mobility. Sandel says these two trends are unraveling many Americans’ sense of belonging and pride. These are true social realities, though the evidence shows these two trends have been in place since the early 1980s. Robert D. Putnam back in 2000 presented a good exploration of these trends in his book, Bowling Alone.
The problem is Sandel’s third premise because it’s totally bizarre. He claims that the Democratic Party has alienated the working class by insisting that everyone needs to get a college degree — what he claims is the Democrats’ “meritocratic triumphalism” of the status of college degrees. It’s this elitist attitude by Harris and other Democrats, he claims, that turned many people to Trump, who, Sandel says, doesn’t condescend to them like Democrats do.
Democrats are economic eltists, Sandel insists, and the party has been taken over by radical leftists who disparage the working class. Trump won because the Left, which Sandel seems to define as anyone with economic ideas that wouldn't sit well with Wall Street CEOs, in their pursuit of a degreed meritocracy has betrayed the working class.
Why It’s Nonsense
I call bullshit.
Certainly, the Democratic Party has neglected the working class since Bill Clinton became president and turned the party’s focus to collecting corporate money. Bernie Sanders, bless him, has spent the last 30 years emphasizing this truth. However, that isn't Sandel's claim. He insists that Democrats are actively shaming people who don't have college degrees and that Trump is reaching out and affirming these people.
I couldn't find a single Democratic Party press release or statement by a Democratic politician that confirms Sandel's claim. At the very least, Sandel's suggestion that Harris and the Democratic Party made college degrees a major campaign theme the last three presidential elections is ludicrous.
Who demands college degrees? Neither party in the political Duopoly. If anyone, it's the science and technical corporations that state "degree required" in job listings within STEM fields. That makes sense — one needs training commensurate to the position. Academia also sensibly requires an advanced degree to teach college courses.
Contrary to Sandel’s insinuation of a widespread meritocratic demand for degreed credentials, there has never been a time in US history where even a quarter of job listings require any form of college degree, and, usually, under a fifth of job listings even mention a degree as a desired qualification. (Source)
There is a gap between voters and politicians on the matter of degreed credentials. Four out of five jobs don’t require a college degree. For decades, over 95% the members of the US Congress have had at least one college degree. That’s the case for both parties — there is no gap between Democrats and Republicans on this. Interestingly, Sandel doesn’t mention the much larger wealth gap between voters and politicians — the median net worth of members of Congress being over $1 million. (Source) Here too, there is no gap between Democrats and Republicans.
One could argue that the Republican Party has gone all-in on rhetoric against academics, but the right wing has always stirred up resentment against those in higher education, even when the right-wingers attended the same elitist colleges that Sandel attended and is now employed by. Sandel’s claim that Democratic Party strategy shifted toward degreed “meritocratic triumphalism” in 2016, and that Harris doubled down on it in 2024, is without merit.
It is clear that there was in the 2024 election a higher education gap among voters. People with college degrees went with Harris more than with Trump, and people without degrees went the other direction. What caused that gap is worth researching, but Sandel’s theory that its cause was the Harris campaign saying only those with college degrees can be successful doesn’t hold water. But hey, Sandel is one of the “meritocratic triumphalist” class, so his word is unquestioned.
Disclosure: I have a BA, two MAs, and a PhD, but I have never once thought that a degree is the only road to success.
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[1] Url:
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