What's the Matter with Kansas author Thomas Frank rips Democrats for their elitist betrayal of the working class

Author Thomas Frank slams Democrats for neglecting middle class.

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

last updated 23 March 2016

What's the Matter with Kansas? author Thomas Frank has turned his critical eye from Republican politics to those of his own party, the Democrats. In an interview with BillMoyers.com's Kathy Kiely, Frank slammed liberals for their educational meritocracy, which he claims has betrayed the working class. "One of the chronic failings of meritocracy is orthodoxy," Frank explained. "You get people who don't listen to voices outside their discipline."

Frank, who identifies as a Bernie Sanders supporter, went on to say that if there was a villain in his theory, it would be Bill Clinton:

[…] If you look just back to the Bill Clinton administration: In policy after policy after policy, he was choosing between groups of Americans, and he was always choosing the interests of professionals over the interests of average people. You take something like NAFTA, which was a straight class issue, right down the middle, where working people are on one side of the divide and professionals are on another. And they're not just on either side of the divide: Working people are saying, "This is a betrayal. You're going to ruin us." And professional people are saying, "What are you talking about? This is a no-brainer. This is what you learn on the first day of economics class." And hilariously, the working people turned out to be right about that. The people flaunting their college degrees turned out to be wrong. I love that. [BillMoyers.com]

Read more of Frank's interview here, or pick up his new book on the topic, Listen Liberal.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.