The Southern Strategy, Reagan Democrats, the Catholic/evangelical/Mormon campaign against women's and gay rights, the corporate-funded rise of conservative talk radio, Fox "News" and other Murdoch media, the tea party movement, Karl Rove, Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, etc., ad nauseam.
And tonight, the Republicans evidently won another class/culture-war election in Wisconsin.
White male working-class Democrats have been very economically insecure for decades -- most of them can be, and fear being, fired for being old, getting sick, and/or working for a corporation that decides to outsource their job to Asia or some Confederate state.
Or just because it's Friday.
And untold millions of them have been fired.
More, below.
Most white male working-class Democrats are not in a union -- they're working for WalMart or some smaller retail outfit, they're independent handyman contractors, they work for small manufacturers or Koch Industries, they live in the Confederacy where there are no unions.
So for most of them, their income is below the median, whatever benefits they get suck, and they have no real job security.
They could blame their bosses, or a political system that's done little to ensure their economic security, but billions have been spent to place the blame elsewhere -- union thugs and socialist/Marxist/commies, aka Democrats.
In 2010, white male working-class Democrats helped elect governors like Walker, Tom Corbett, Rick Snyder, and John Kasich; Senators like Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio; House Members like Allen West, Justin Amash, and Joe Walsh; and scores of Republican state legislators.
And they're still voting for Republicans today.
Yeah, they're voting against their self-interest, and they've been propagandized by wingnut radio and TV.
But they are still essentially Democrats, and many will come home, if/when they hear an FDR-like populist message that 21st-century Democrats are on their side.