Democrat Wimberly: We do not serve the Working Class

Breaking news from InsiderNJ.  Democrat  Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly (D- 35), a career white-collar public employee, issued a press release stating:  "The New Jersey Legislature does not serve the ‘forgotten people.'"  The Democrat was referring to the Working Class, as referenced by Assemblyman Parker Space in a statement the Republican released on Tuesday.

We suspect that without knowing it, Assemblyman Wimberly was acknowledging one of the great under-reported facts of American political life.  In White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making,  Duke  University Professor Nick Carnes cites studies showing that while a majority of Americans work in blue-collar employment, only 2 percent of Congress were blue-collar workers before being elected and only 3 percent of State Legislators are employed as blue-collar workers.  Carnes and others hold that this disparity reflects the economic decisions and priorities of legislative bodies in America.

This lack of blue-collar perspective shouldn't surprise anyone looking at the Legislature's agenda.  And it shows why Democrat political leaders in Trenton don't give a damn about New Jersey having the highest property taxes in America.

As for Assemblyman Wimberly, he holds three white-collar taxpayer-funded jobs, one of which are subsidized (through the inequitable Abbott funding formula) by rural and suburban taxpayers residing in Northwest New Jersey.  He has a total of four taxpayer-funded jobs in his household.  No wonder he wants the "forgotten" Working Class to shut-up and just pay their taxes.

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Assemblyman Wimberly tries to make a point that the Legislature should serve "all the people."  That's a nice sentiment, but as a recent Princeton University study reported, "The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."

It's not about identity.  It's about Class.

And yes, it is humiliating that a group representing more than 60 percent of the population has just 3 percent of the representation.