Disraeli, Working Man Hero

(rewritten from Wikipedia):

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81), twice British Prime Minister and a favorite of Queen Victoria, created the modern Conservative Party. Born in London to a Jewish family, his literary critic father left the faith to became an Anglican, as did Benjamin after baptism at age 12. 

Disraeli’s chief political achievement: securing passage of the 1867 Reform Act. Disraeli’s reform nearly doubled the number of males eligible to vote and increased the power of urban voters at the expense of country gentlemen.

The victory was long in coming; 25 years earlier, at age 38, Disraeli had helped form the “Young England” parliamentary group which sought to gain power by moving to “protect the poor from exploitation by middle-class businessmen.” 

Then 10 years later, Disraeli, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to U.S. Treasury Secretary) lowered the taxes on malt (for beer) and tea, provisions designed to appeal to the working class. 

Disraeli’s actions were highly popular with the people. Newly enfranchised voters responded to the 1867 Reform Act by making Disraeli Prime Minister in 1868, and in 1874, they gave Disraeli and Conservatives their first majority since 1841. Conservatives held power for most of the next 20 years. Looking back from 20th Century Britain, of the previous century's political leaders, only Disraeli remained a positive figure in popular culture.

Comment: At the time of Reform, Disraeli faced an unfavorable political environment. The wealthy businessmen (in the day called “the middle class”) had taken control of Britain from the aristocratic Tories (Conservatives). Disraeli realized he had to respond by enlarging the electoral playing field. His reform sought to gain back power by putting the gentry together with new working class voters. 

Democrats are executing Disraeli’s “enlarge the playing field” strategy by adding to their “anti-racist” coalition of non-whites and unmarried female whites. They seek to open U.S. borders to additional non-whites, to make undocumented aliens citizens within 8 years, and to expand massively the voting rolls to people of color and the young. Democrats are after a permanent majority. Their strategy worked in the 2020 election. 

Perhaps Republicans will counter with a Disraeli strategy of their own. They would attempt to make elections not about race, but about prosperity — uplifting America’s middle and working classes. Are Democrats truly boosting working class incomes? Or is their concentration on race and sex grievances a diversion from the task of getting people back to work?