Why I Still Like J.D. Vance (2016 Version)
When Vance gave voice to the forgotten working class.
What do we say to someone who loses a factory job? What do we say to people living in communities where manufacturing jobs have left and there is very little prospect for other good-paying jobs?
When I read my fellow compatriots on the center-right, the answers tend to be either that manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back or that if they came back it would raise prices on consumer goods.
What we have told working-class Americans is that it is up to you to figure this out. Find a job, any job, even if it pays much less than your previous one. Maybe you should move to a new place where there is work. Go to college and gain new skills even if you rack up debt. Maybe the worst thing we tell people is that they are lazy or druggies or whatever.
What I’ve noticed is that when conservatives talk about the economy, they talk about it in the aggregate. There is talk about growth and the affordability of goods. What is missing is the talk of people and workers.
Since his nomination to be Donald Trump’s Vice President, J.D. Vance has received a ton of criticism and much of it is well-deserved. The junior Senator from Ohio and author of the book Hilbilly Elegy has become an object of ridicule…
