“When both the privileges and the disqualifications of class have been abolished and men have shattered the bonds which once held them immobile, the idea of progress comes naturally into each man’s mind, the desire to rise swells in every heart at once, and all men want to quit their former social position. Ambition becomes a universal feeling.”
So observed Alexis de Tocqueville about America circa 1835. I can’t help but be struck by the contradictory sentiments of present day. I’m not sure if it’s hyperbole, but I’ve read that our country hasn’t been this divided since the Civil War. Whether that’s true or not, there is an illusion to America. There was never a time that there wasn’t a gap between the haves and the have nots … or the have mores. The distinctions have shifted, but make no mistake, there has always been a very poor and a very rich in America.
However, this idea that the very poor could pull themselves up from the bootstraps and make their fortune, as de Tocqueville says “rise”, is at the heart of the American Dream. Whether ambition was truly ever a “universal feeling” is questionable (the downtrodden are rarely described as “ambitious” too) yet through the lens of nostalgia, and simply tracing the story of so many immigrants, hard work did pay off and folks did “rise” in great numbers, generation after generation. The rich got richer, but so did the poor.
Something seems different now. Perhaps because this is the only time in which I’ve actually lived, or because I’m an adult, or because I’ve tried to get decent medical insurance. There is no illusion to the rise in the privileges and disqualifications of class. Look at the public school system, the gated communities, the private jets, the tax code, the foreclosed homes, the ravaged retirement accounts. This article:
How can the “idea of progress come naturally” to a nation whose leaders constantly whine about the opposition rather than solve its problems? Whether you’re a democratic president or a republican congressman, your job is to lead.
“But they won’t do this…” “But they want to do that…”
Figure it out. Criticism is not leadership.
“I had an idea but they didn’t want to do it.”
Figure it out.
There’s always been political opposition and the politicians have always been in the pockets of the wealthy. The big difference was that the wealthy had their businesses, by and large here. Pre-“Global economy”, it was in the wealthy’s best interest (and the country’s) to have a thriving middle class. Ambition can’t be a universal feeling when there is no clarity of national purpose and the misdirect in the quest to assign blame rather than truly remedy ills is maddening.
Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that the villain in the new Batman movie is named “Bane” to bring attention to the fact that Mitt Romney worked at Bain Capital.
Let’s assume for a moment that Rush is absolutely correct. Let us pretend for a moment that we live in a world in which black is white, the truth is false and idiots are given creedence.
Perhaps we don’t have to pretend too hard, but Rush’s point is that the
people out in crazy lefty Hollywood made a movie about a guy who dressed up like a bat to fight crime and decided to give the main villain the same name of a potential presidential candidate’s old company.
This has exactly two things to do with what’s wrong with the country: Fuck and all.
While I’d like to offer some kind of counter example from the liberal press that’s equally inane and downright false, I just can’t. To be fair, I haven’t looked very hard, but of all the stuff Limbaugh has shilled, this might be the cherry on top of the dumbshit sundae.
And here I am adding to the problem talking about it. Why? Because I can wrap my head around it. Economic issues and bank irregularities just aren’t as entertaining as Batman. It’s far more difficult for the average American to wrap their head around fiscal policy than names and movies and comic books, but trying to “good guy/bad guy” it for the sake of easy consumption only makes for good television, not good policy. And it’s not even that good television anymore. This studio wrestling every night on cable news and AM Radio makes the early days of the WWF look sophisticated by comparison. So it’s not just the leaders that need to figure it out, it’s all of us too.
Call it what you will, but the planet’s climate is changing. Chemicals in the water are bad for you. The Health Insurance system is still pretty screwed up. And some of the rich actually did earn their money and shouldn’t have to “share” it with everyone else.
What exactly is “fair share” anyway? There are bankers whose job it is to specifically create very complex financial instruments in the pursuit of making money. I’m certain that you can pair some of these fellows with some economists and come up with an arithmetic that would both simplify and improve the tax situation. I’m sure it wouldn’t make everyone happy, but perhaps that’d be an indicator of success.
I’m reminded of the bible tale of Babel:
The people were united, they all spoke the same language and soon nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them. So God said “Let us confuse their language so they won’t understand each other.”
I never understood the point of this story and now it seems clear to me. Simply reverse the order and you realize that if we could just find a way to understand each other, nothing we set out to do would be impossible – a platitude that’s easier said than done, but we’re big boys and girls, we should really be able to figure it out.
C I P R I A N I 
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