People often ask me what I think it will happen -- whether the poor and middle class will demand reforms that reverse the scourge of widening inequality, whether we will elect politicians who will see the fears and insecurities of most Americans, or whether things will get so extreme people take to the streets. I tell them I don't know, but we have been in terrible straights before -- on the cusp of the Progressive era, in the Great Depression, in the late 1960s and early 1970s -- and in those eras we widened the circle of prosperity, elected statesmen who responded to the fears and anxieties of ordinary Americans and the poor, and chose reform over revolution. We are approaching a tipping point once again. Our economy and our politics are working for a smaller and smaller portion of our people. We cannot continue in this direction. The optimist in me says we will do what we have done in the past, but I wonder if I'm right.
No comments:
Post a Comment