How parties die
Republicans, long used to accusations of insensitivity to women, are ecstatic over the neo-liberal crack-up over sexual harassment. The term “limousine liberal” doesn’t begin to capture the class snobbery and hypocrisy of the modern, urban neo-liberal.
Billionaire and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein flew bro Bill Clinton on his plane least 25 times after Clinton left office—though prior to any revelations of Epstein’s criminal behavior. Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey’s names appeared on the manifests. Their associations with a known pedophile didn’t cause working-class Democrats to jump the blue tribe. But Donald Trump did.
As the ongoing sex scandals rock the Democratic Party Hollywood and media donor class, even Tootsie feminist male icon Dustin Hoffman stands accused. Former child actor Corey Feldman raises accusations of Hollywood gay pedophilia that led to his friend Cory Haim’s early death.
Nevada and California’s new Democratic senators attack the livelihoods of working-class women engaged in sex work. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto built her political career as the first Nevada attorney general to introduce sex trafficking laws in Nevada. California’s Sen. Kamala Harris came to power on the same anti-working women prosecutorial track. Her sex trafficking charges against Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer has the potential to destroy the internet as we know it, creating a liability on service providers for content posted by advertisers. Luckily, California Superior Court Judge Lawrence Brown threw out her second attempt to charge Ferrer with pimping. Other charges remain to be pursued by her successors as attorney general.
Recent studies have shown that the ability to advertise their services on the internet has reduced violence against sex workers by 17 percent. This is because it has reduced the number of sex workers on the street. Cities around the world are reporting dramatic reductions in the number of streetwalkers when the “apartment girls” have access to internet advertising. Working from a hotel room or condo allows for screening clients and less need for a pimp. There are also fewer encounters with the police.
Limousine liberals expand the definition of coercion beyond its original meaning of physical or psychological attack or threats, to merely being obligated by the reality of a need to work in an occupation they do not approve of or understand. They claim all johns are rich, white, cisgender males, while, in fact, they are racially diverse and usually working class. Democrats preach advocacy for single mothers, always by taxing, spending and regulating. They nevertheless attack single mothers who choose sex work because it provides the best opportunity to keep their own hours to take care of their children while making a good living.
Neoliberals loudly proclaim their love of immigrants, but they have entered into an unholy alliance with social conservative Republicans to push punitive sex trafficking legislation aimed at immigrants. Asian women have been coming to the United States for sex work since Gold Rush days. Immigrant women often gravitate to service jobs: nannies, maids, health care and sex work. Because of Democratic politicians like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, we see long, expensive surveillance and vice stings by Homeland Security and the FBI on Asian massage parlors, the home of the happy ending. Asian women are being stalked, arrested and sometimes deported as if they were national security threats. When no prostitution is found, the businesses are often still hit with code and licensing law violations and shut down.
The only sex trafficking that is going on in America appears to be within the Democratic Party’s political and donor class. But the laws are instead being used to harass working women, often women of color.
