Liberalism's broken promise to the working class fuels Democratic Party's decline

Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu's forthcoming book, 'What Happened to Liberal Democracy?', posits that the erosion of "labor-class liberalism" is a primary driver behind the working class's estrangement from the Democratic Party in the United States. Acemoglu argues that the post-war era of rapid economic growth, while seemingly beneficial, created an economic chasm. He notes that while workers and management once shared in the gains, the period since the 1980s has seen a stark divergence: real wages for manual and non-college-educated workers have stagnated or declined, while those in professional, managerial, and technical roles have continued to see rapid increases.

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For 30 years after the war, the United States enjoyed very rapid economic growth. (...) Workers benefited as much as management, and the low-education group saw faster wage growth than the college-educated group.

This widening inequality, Acemoglu suggests, is intrinsically linked to a transformation within liberalism itself. He traces the historical roots and philosophical underpinnings of liberalism, observing that its core tenets, individual rights, checks on power, equality before the law, belief in progress, and a commitment to aiding the vulnerable, have been increasingly overshadowed. The book highlights a shift, particularly within the progressive wing of liberalism, away from addressing economic and class-based disparities towards an overemphasis on identity politics and meritocracy. This, he contends, has alienated the traditional base of the Democratic Party, which historically represented the working class.

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Manual laborers and non-college-educated workers saw their wages decrease, while professional, managerial, and technical workers continued to see rapid wage increases. (...) Half of those born in the 1980s earn less than their parents.

Acemoglu points to a significant electoral realignment: in the 1970s, a majority of non-college-educated voters supported Democrats, a trend that has reversed, with Democrats now garnering more support from college-educated voters. Conversely, the Republican Party has increasingly appealed to white working-class voters, a shift that culminated in the rise of the Trump presidency. The book also critiques certain contemporary trends within progressive circles, such as "cancel culture" and "deplatforming," arguing that they can threaten freedom of expression, a value Acemoglu considers a cornerstone of liberalism. He advocates for a renewed "labor-class liberalism" that prioritizes workers' interests, including the development of "worker-friendly AI" that complements rather than replaces human labor, as a path toward shared prosperity and a revitalized democracy.

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Freedom of expression must be a red line that liberalism can never compromise on.