On Trolls and Who Gets to Define the Working Class

Without doing much at all, I find myself being talked about in the third person, which I find strange because I am fully capable of talking for myself, as anyone who knows me can attest. All this seems to have very little to do with me (though I imagine these folks do not like me) or the budget (which they’re ostensibly about).  Instead, these are bad faith attempts to try win a debate online, thinking this to be an effective strategy at convincing voters who absolutely know better.  While this may be good for pile-ons from people who already share your point of view (or whole think I’m going to single-handedly bring make North Haven a woke communist kibbutz or something), most normal people see these conversations and just gloss their eyes, close their browsers, and go about their day.

There’s a few tactics at play.  First; pretending that the author said something completely different than what you actually said and then forcing you to defend it. Other tactics include deflecting from directly engaging with a point by asking for detailed research and sources. If sources are provided, somehow they will not be good enough and the question will be framed slightly different while something else is demanded. The point of this is to make another person do labor or diligence that will not be appreciated, indulged, or acknowledged.  That’s the definition of bad faith.   If this tactic doesn't work, one can always change the subject by asking irrelevant questions that distract from the initial point.  If you do this enough, no one actually winds up talking about the same thing and the conversation becomes a muddled argumentative mess of finger-pointing and virtue-signaling. People who do this are not interested in productive discussion. They’re interested in being in control. 

There is a word for this.  It is called trolling. I'm not interested in engaging with internet trolls nor am I stubborn or headstrong enough to need the last word.  Trolls like the ones talking about me can continue to talk as much as they want. After many years of knowing some of them, I'm not surprised nor amused by their latest actions.  One of these trolls is in part acting in his role as a Republican strategist for the candidate he manages and knows its advantageous to discredit his political enemies. He can keep having the last word because I’m done engaging with his crap. I'm happy to chat with folks of any political persuasion on a basis of mutual respect. Between this individual and I, there is none.  I don't find this kind of engagement respectful, constructive, or useful.

One line I would like to address in some of the repeated criticism of my stance on this and past budgets though is the idea that if you support tax increases, you are against the working class. For those in this know, this is commonly known to be a conservative canard used by big-money libertarian think tanks whose ultimate aim is to gut the social safety net and dismantle public sector unions.  But for the layman, the argument against this is pretty simple.  Municipal taxes, particularly in Connecticut where the model is skewed and middle class towns like North Haven receive very little from the state, pay for services the working class need or enjoy.  Cutting taxes is essentially an additional tax on the working class.

Think about it:

If educational funding is cut?  Who will suffer and who will land on their feet? Kids on food stamps whose parents work multiple jobs or kids whose parents can afford private tutoring and have flexibility for additional accommodations?

If library hours shift, will working class people miss out or those who have the extra income to just buy the book on Amazon or find additional ways to access the quality programming the library offers?

If the rec center cuts its hours, who gets to swim in pool, take an adult learning class, or play a league sport?  Those with more money or less?

If music under the stars goes away, who can find other concerts they can afford to attend?

And so on.

This is also bore out by the advocacy groups who lobby Hartford or Washington D.C. and do work effortlessly to do community organizing in the areas most affected. Those are coalitions of working class volunteers tirelessly trying to move the needle on issues like affordable housing, homelessness, education access, healthcare affordability, labor rights, et al.  None of them are saying we can achieve these things with flat costs, but there is also an awareness of the structural deficiencies which intentionally pit struggling people against one another every year in things like our annual budget debate.

The distributional model for taxes in Connecticut is patently absurd ; working class people are constantly put in a place where they choose to either fund their own benefits and face higher tax bills or vote to cut services to their own detriment.  With a rigged system like this, you can understand why so few people vote every year.  While our North Haven Representatives and the Governor refuse to entertain any notions to tax the rich, working families see rising utilities, rising gas prices, rising mortgages/rents, and rising costs of consumer goods.  While those levers are all controlled by banks, corporations, and wealthy investors who are running away scot-free with all the wealth (and who would scarcely be regulated at all if North Haven’s Republican representatives had their way), the only democratic vote the rest of us have in the process is whether to shoot ourselves in the right foot or the left foot in terms of funding services.  Until that model is fixed, we are all left in this permanent limbo. 

And while I believe North Haven has underutilized opportunities to build economic development and revenue to help us keep up with rising costs, permanent unending economic growth is also an unsustainable goal.   At some point, development and growth will need to flatline even if costs continue to rise and wages continue to stagnate.  We can’t expect to develop ourselves to death in an attempt circumvent looking tax equity dead in the face and make sure those who can afford it are paying their fair share. 

I am personally a yes vote for the budget, because I think the government should support the working class in the services they need.  Just as well, I think everyone deserves to have nice things, not just lawyers and management at Ivy league schools who can afford it.  And I am involved enough in the process to know that the conspiracy theories about secret hidden funds and surpluses are bunk, put out there by bad actors spreading bad information.  But while the presence of bad actors is undeniable, I don’t think that the vast majority of those who are planning on voting  “no” on the budget are bad people.  Many folks are just trying to figure out the calculus on what’s becoming an increasingly impossible decision.  I don’t need to smear them to get my point across, just hope that they’ll listen with an open heart and an open mind to make whatever decision is truly best for their family and their community.   So wherever you come down on this, I hope you will join us in the broader battle to fix this broken model and bring real, permanent relief to working class people.   Let’s focus our attention on the real source of our malaise, not each other.