I hate to admit this but I’m a bit of a snob, someone who borders on intellectual elitism of all things. This bothers me greatly since I grew up in a Catholic, ethnic, working class household where money was always an issue. There was, in truth, enough for the basics during my tender years but my parents had a tendency to fritter away too much on rather hedonistic pursuits. There was little left, none really, for culture or investments in education or other aspirational advancements. As a result, I’ve always felt a connection with ethnic, working class folk who struggle to make their lives a little better (more on this in future posts).
More accurately, I’ve always wanted to sympathise with the down to earth working types. I thought, since I shared their roots and was raised in this culture of struggle and upward aspirations, that I would have an affinity with the common people. It turns out … I don’t. They baffle the total crap out of me.
What mostly shocks my sensibilities, and I’m grossly generalizing here (mea culpa), is that so many of them cannot connect the simplest dots. Growing up, the working class stiffs around me seemed, though less educated, quite sharp about things. At a minimum, they seemed able to discern what was in their self-interest and what was not, who was in their corner and who was taking them to the cleaners. Few willingly voted for thhose who made their lives more dificult.
Somewhere along the line, working stiffs have lost their way, too many (though far from all) now enthisiastically support those who systemically rob them blind. Take a look at the chart below. It tells a simple story. Starting with the Presidency of ‘guess who,’ you can trace the red line which represents the famous (or infamous) top 1 percent of the income distribution. Their share of the income pie has steadily and inexorably trended up. On the other hand, the share enjoyed by the bottom half of the population has trended down … a simple way of demonstrating growing U.S. inequality of both resources and opportunity. By the way, the divergence has gotten worse in recent years, propelled by Trump’s massive 2017 tax gift to the uber wealthy. We haven’t seen anything like this since the end of the gilded age and then the late 1920s, just before the great crash.
Perhaps this is something beyound our control, perhaps God is willing this as a way of rewarding the blessed in His eyes. Well, not exactly. Look at the bottom panel. Our western European peers have seen a modest trend toward increased inequality but nothing like what we’ve seen here. A human hand, not Providential belssings, lies behind this ominous trend. Want to enjoy the American Dream these days? Head back across the pond.
You would think that the working classes, people struggling to make ends meet, would be outraged. You might even think they would be seeking redress from their growing difficulties through the ballot box. You would be wrong. Many of those who have lost out in recent decades enthisaiastically support the very people and the very political actors that have robbed them blind.
The reasons for their inexplicable actions will have to wait for further posts, the story is complicated. But I am reminded that W.E.B. Dubois, the first African American to get a doctorate from Harvard, over a century ago discussed the ease with which poorer whites accepted a ‘psychological wage’ in contrast to real compensatory relief. They would eagerly be pacified (and distracted) by those who promised an illusory superiority over those with different skin color or other superficial differences. Hate and division proved such an easy distraction. He described the classic ‘bait and switch’ tactic that has so many voting against their self-interest, and with surprising passion.
This makes me sad. It really does. I loved the people I grew up with. Now, many are an alien species to me.
PS: If you want a witty tour through my childhood, look for ‘A Clueless Rebel’ on Amazon.
Tom's Musings 