Truth to Power | Les Leopold | The Labor Institute | Dems Losing the Working Class | 1-17-25

On today's show, we listen in on a very timely community conversation hosted on January 14th, 2025 with the Oberlin Club of Washington, DC, focused on the question: "Why is the working-class leaving the Democratic Party?" The conversation featured remarks by Les Leopold, Executive Director of The Labor Institute, and a 1969 graduate of Oberlin College. You can watch the full event and see the slides at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThOll28AuYY In assessing the 2024 elections, many voters are asking: has the working-class abandoned the Democratic Party? If so, why? What does that tell us about the views of working people and what does that suggest about the Party and its future? There are two major theories to account for the extensive working-class shift to the Republicans since 1996. One argument rooted in social issues is that working-class resentment against women, immigrants, LBGTQ+ communities and other ""woke"" concerns has resulted in an embrace of right-wing candidates whose supporters Hillary Clinton once termed "a basket of deplorables". The other theory is that economic issues like job insecurity, stagnant wages and declining prospects for the future have pushed workers away from the Democrats. What does the data reveal? Les Leopold offers an assessment based on findings in his latest book "Wall Street's War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It." Les Leopold co-founded and currently directs The Labor Institute, a non-profit organization that designs research and educational programs on occupational safety and health, the environment and economics for unions, workers centers and community organizations. In addition to "Wall Street's War on Workers," he is the author of "Defiant German, Defiant Jew"; "Runaway Inequality"; "How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Financial Elites get away with siphoning off America's Wealth"; "The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance destroyed our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and What We Can Do About It"; and "The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi." Les graduated from Oberlin with a degree in Government and earned an MPA from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. On Truth to Power each week, we gather people from around the community to discuss the state of the world, the nation, the state, and the city! It's a community conversation like you won't hear anywhere else! Truth to Power airs every Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 11am, and Sunday at 4pm on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at https://forwardradio.org