ML-Implode News - The end of American meritocracy

Since the late 1960s both parties, in different ways, have turned a blind eye to the economic interests of the middle class. In 1972 the McGovern-Fraser Commission revamped the Democratic party's rules for selecting its nominee after the disastrous 1968 convention in Chicago. The overhaul changed the party's course. It included obligatory seats for women, ethnic minorities and young people -- but left out working males altogether. "We aren't going to let these Camelot Harvard-Berkeley types take over our party," said the head of the AFL-CIO, the largest American union federation. That is precisely what happened. Democrats cemented the shift from a class-based party to an ethnic coalition by enshrining affirmative action for non-whites. Getting a leg up to university, the ultimate meritocratic vehicle, was based on your skin colour rather than your economic situation
Unsurprisingly, swaths of the white middle class turned Republican. Forty years on, many Democrats, not least Bernie Sanders' supporters, are suffering buyer's remorse.
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Once in office, Republicans pursued tax cuts for the rich. Ignored by both parties and disproportionately hit by the downsides of globalisation, blue-collar whites fell into depression. For the first time, life expectancy among American whites is falling.

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The end of American meritocracy