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I don't know that the "high-low coalition vs. the middle" concept applies to your assertion, though. Surely the counterargument is that black people and families will be loyal to the party whose policies gave their children better opportunities, i.e. delivering tangible progress?
I don't know. I suppose if I was an East Coast machine politician who was never in any real danger of losing to an R candidate, I like to think I'd have enough electoral free reign to do what I thought would objectively improve things for my constituents.
Delivering an "opportunity" is not the same thing as delivering "tangible progress." An "opportunity" can be failed, and if you actually buy into the fairness of the opportunity, the failing actually is an insult - you weren't good enough to measure up! The person who gave you the opportunity only gave you an insult! Screw opportunity; you have a grievance - you don't deserve an opportunity to be told "haha you suck", you deserve the actual prize!
I submit that this is a far better match for what we're seeing with regard to, e.g. increasingly-explicit hiring quotas, racially-based benefits and payments programs, medical preferences, and the corresponding attacks on and decline in color-blind casting, merit-based examinations, grading, honors programs, etc.
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It's hard to reason about current parties while assuming they would behave in a way that current parties would never do. If Democrats would implement "western culture" values, they wouldn't be Democrats anymore - at least not the Democrats we have known for 2 or 3 generations. Would prospective black middle class stay with them then? Who knows, that's a huge unknown. But it is known that black permanent welfare class reliably votes for current Democrats, so why risk it? It's not like they'd get tired of being permanent welfare class and revolt - if they were capable of figuring this out, that'd happen decades ago. Right now they are all in on state-sanctioned racism as a way out of the hole. Which would work about as great as projects worked as a solution for housing problem.
You could. Or you could do things that ensure your party is in power for another generation and you personally and everybody you choose to become multimillionaires and generally get near-royalty status, including being virtually untouchable to law enforcement (if you keep within certain - very wide - bounds and do not get into a fight with a more powerful royalty). Sure, there might be saints among them, but even if those pop out, people surrounding them would explain to them quickly what are the costs of rocking the boat.
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