The typical reactionary indignantly denies that he is a bigot. He will tell you that he can’t stand anyone who refuses to work and lounges in the hammock of dependency at his expense. As it happens, most of these lazy slackers picking his pocket and demanding cuts in line are minorities, but he doesn’t have any respect for the white ones, either.
The allegation about minorities and welfare isn’t true, of course, and a lot of this is just eyewash. Not all of it, however. The collapse of the economy has been so sudden and massive that even the GOP has been forced to abandon its sympathy for these Victorian attitudes and support across-the-board safety net legislation. Will that continue?
No. The pendulum is already starting to swing. The GOP is beginning to draw lines between the deserving and undeserving poor. It may prevent any new rounds of stimulus, and it will probably be a battleground in the election.
Given that the current unemployment rate can hardly be blamed on workers, the Democrats should look forward to that debate.