Working-class southern whites would have much to gain from abandoning the Republicans’ race-based politics in favor of class-based politics. It is, after all, white corporate elites, not poor African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities, who deprive working-class whites of quality public schools, affordable health care, and environmental safety. Southern white male senators play up the culture war in part to shield the Republicans’ mega-rich donors, who feast on corporate tax cuts and environmental deregulation while the party scapegoats African-Americans and Hispanics.
The declining predominance of non-Hispanic whites in the total population has probably widened America’s cultural divide during the past 20 years. And with non-Hispanic whites expected to become a minority of the total population by around 2045, America’s ongoing civil war could worsen. It will not end until working-class Americans of all regions, races, and ethnicities join forces to demand higher taxes and greater accountability of the rich corporate elite.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor of sustainable development, professor of health policy and management, and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is also director of the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. His books include "The End of Poverty, Common Wealth," and, most recently, "The Age of Sustainable Development."