[lbo-talk] Re: cart before the horse

[Paul]

Yoshi writes:
>For some people who are committed to the Democratic Party, commitment is 
>rooted in self interest at least in the short term, I think.  The 
>Democratic Party still delivers some things for petty producers (e.g., 
>doctors, lawyers, Black, Latino, and Asian small businessmen and -women, 
>etc.) and high- to upper-middle strata of the working class (e.g., 
>university professors, better-paid unionized workers in manufacturing and 
>the public sector, etc.), though even they are on balance losing out to 
>the ruling class, especially in the long term. For poorer workers, who 
>also happen to be mostly either unable or unwilling to vote, the 
>Democratic Party can't and won't deliver, even in the short term.  The 
>latter, unfortunately, have yet to get organized.

Useful points, but I would like to see some numbers.  Some of these groups, 
such as the American Medical Association, were not noted as DP supporters 
(has this totally changed given the rise of antagonisms between MDs and 
insurance companies?).  Were lawyers noted as an organized anti RP group 
*before* the rise of the tort reform issue (will they be after it is 
"settled")?  Also, it was my totally impressionistic sense that the 
heterogenous Asian small business community was very scattered in its 
political views.

Anyone have suggestions of good empirical studies of voting patterns broken 
down by economic  categories (ideally cross referencing age, race, geo 
location, profession, urban\suburban\rural, religious background, 
etc)?  Any studies of the U.S. over time, or in comparison to other OECD 
countries?  Many thanks in advance.

Paul