The Great Middle Class
Joe Biden recently attacked Wall Mart as hurting the middle class. That’s right, the middle class. What ever happened to working class (i.e. poor) people? I’ve noticed recently that few politicians ever make any references to poor people–instead they always talk about the middle class. Part of this is the great American aspiration (or delusion, take your pick) that everyone is middle class and no one is poor. But that’s obviously a lie. So why do politicians, particularly Democrats (we all know that most Republican leaders hate poor people =), ignore poor people?
First, I think poor people are ignored because many Americans blame them for their plight. Witness the urban legends about welfare queens and opinion pieces in “reputable” newspapers about “lucky duckies“. I think this is obviously rooted in the Puritan philosophy of predistination and wealth being a sign of being one of God’s Elect. Obviously, those that are poor are therefore sinners and unworthy. However, more recently the proclaimed middle classes of America have become much more anxious about their position. The shift from a manufacturing to service economy, globalization and offshoring, and the end of pension guarantees all serve to cut people lose from their psychic moorings, so to speak. Add in terrorist attacks and wars overseas and you have a group of people seriously adrift. Not surprisingly, they don’t give a damn about anyone else right now, they just want politicians look after them, the middle class, and fuck anyone else–besides, everyone knows the poor are lazy and violent.
And that is why the Republicans have done so well in the last decade and why few Democrats embraced John Edwards when he talked about addressing poverty head on.