Obama and the Destructive Class

By Ian Jobling • 7/1/08

A number of articles on The Inverted World have argued that leukophobia, or fear and loathing of whites, is the class ideology of the highly-educated professionals, whom I call the “destructive class.” Today’s NYT column by David Brooks on financial support for Barack Obama is further evidence for this thesis. Obama has a massive lead over McCain in all employment sectors requiring advanced degrees:

As in other recent campaigns, lawyers account for the biggest chunk of Democratic donations. They have donated about $18 million to Obama, compared with about $5 million to John McCain, according to data released on June 2 and available at OpenSecrets.org.

People who work at securities and investment companies have given Obama about $8 million, compared with $4.5 for McCain. People who work in communications and electronics have given Obama about $10 million, compared with $2 million for McCain. Professors and other people who work in education have given Obama roughly $7 million, compared with $700,000 for McCain.

Real estate professionals have given Obama $5 million, compared with $4 million for McCain. Medical professionals have given Obama $7 million, compared with $3 million for McCain. Commercial bankers have given Obama $1.6 million, compared with $1.2 million for McCain. Hedge fund and private equity managers have given Obama about $1.6 million, compared with $850,000 for McCain.

I would quibble with Brooks on one point. He says:

Political analysts now notice a gap between professionals and managers. Professionals, like lawyers and media types, tend to vote and give Democratic. Corporate managers tend to vote and give Republican.

My examination of survey data in Class and Racial Liberalism shows that, although business managers and executives were more conservative than professionals in the 1970s and 80s, there is little difference in their political perspectives now. I have found no statistics on the OpenSecrets website that contradict my view. Brooks’ words are rooted in an antiquated vision of American class politics.

Since we’re on the subject, I’ll return to a favorite talking point of mine. The data make clear that today’s leukophobia is due much more to class conflict than to ethnic conflict between Gentiles and Jews. I’ll quote from the Class and Racial Liberalism article:

The majority of the racial right is under the impression that Jews are primarily responsible for the reign of racial liberalism [or leukophobia] in America. This theory has been strengthened by Kevin MacDonald’s book on Jewish influence in America, The Culture of Critique.

It is certainly true that Jews are more racially liberal than white non-Jews. In 2004, 90 percent of Jews agreed that immigration benefited America against only 53 percent of white Protestants and 49 percent of white Catholics.

However, because they make up such a small share of the population, Jews are also only a tiny minority of racial liberals. In fact, only five percent of whites who believe immigration is beneficial are Jews, and four percent of those who said it was very important that the government should protect the rights of minorities.

By contrast, 15 percent of white racial liberals had a graduate degree and 18 percent earned more than $110,000 per year. This fact suggests that the wealthy and educated play a greater role in promoting racial liberalism than Jews do.

Jews have been sparse among the ranks of racial liberals ever since the GSS began. In 1972, the survey’s first year, for example, only 7.5 percent of whites who supported busing were Jewish. Though Jews are disproportionately liberal, then, it is absurd to hold them responsible for the prevalence of racial liberalism.

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