Second Class Citizen

Understanding the importance of the wealth divide has been framed so conceptually and ideologically that I tend to miss the point most of the time as I think many people do. The most logical argument that the wealth divide is not as big of a deal as democrats are making it comes from a very optimistic libertarian perspective that I actually agree with to a large extent. It basically says that life is improving for everyone both the rich and the poor. There is less violence, and greater wealth nearly universally, and while the rich get richer in comparison to the poor, that is no reason to be angry. In fact it feels good to be in a country where the possibility to become rich exists. It must be this thought that keeps poor states voting republican. It must be this that answers that now old 2004 question posed in the book “What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004)”  by Thomas Frank. I have blamed before Oprah Winfrey for the whole problem. I have said that Oprah’s rise, and linking that rise to spirituality may very well be the biggest influence in the adoption of false hope in our county. I may or may not be right about the power of Oprah, but there was something condescending in my assumption of Americans as simply believing anything they are told by the media and charismatic, if not overly intelligent politicians. The fact is these people have a point. Their lives are better than they used to be, even if they are still not great. They are at least better in some crucial material ways. They are not as likely to be killed by violence. They are not as likely to starve to death. They are more likely to have shelter and clothing. Matt Ridley in his book The Rational Optimist  takes us through this philosophy  and it is quantifiably true. So if I were to come to accept  that Tea Party and other neo cons have a point on some level, (though I can’t go that far. I would say Ron Paul has a point on some level. Michele Bachman et al. get no sympathy) I would have to say that I was wrong about the Oprah effect to a great extent. In fact I would need to admit that red state people are actually more rational than I ever gave them credit for in this regard (though I would still need to throw  out views on abortion, evolution, fire arms, immigration, gay marriage, separation of church and state, increase of the defence budget, and general stupidity such as can be seen in 8 years of George W. Bush). It is possible that they see the trend towards longevity, reduced violence and all of the other things I mention. If that is the case then there is not something wrong with Kansas, or even Texas (again I would exclude the 235 executions, and the state motto “Don’t Mess with Texas” from my admiration). Instead something may be wrong with Boston or San Francisco, or even Brooklyn where I live. The places I just mentioned have citizens who are on average wealthier than the majority of Red States, yet the population is liberal not republican or even libertarian. Us liberals tend to think we are more educated, and understand the problem, like I thought I got it right with the Oprah thing, but it was really arrogance on my side. So now I will be arrogant and take another crack at why the wealth divide does matter.

Three days ago myself and my colleague took an American Airlines flight from New York to San Francisco. Before anyone who knows me says anything I will disclaim something here. Both my colleague and I are lucky guys who possess a fair amount of American Advantage miles. My colleague in fact is lifetime Platinum which means that he has flown over 3 million miles on American Airlines (though these things are not past down through the generations my father claims over 5 million miles, and notes that that is only because it doesn’t count the miles he accrued before the Advantage program began.). So in many cases we either use miles or get upgraded from coach class to first class on flights. This in fact happens so much that I think both of us forgot how large that divide between the two flight classes has really become. It is not the extra leg room that makes first class better. It is more the warm chocolate chip cookies that make it better. I say this not literally, but almost. In first class you are treated to something relatively cheap, the cookies, but it is presented to you because you are special. The cookies are heated and on proper plates. Drinks flow freely. People hang your coats for you. This all makes sense as a first class ticket is sometimes 8X the price of a coach ticket. You need to get something for that. What doesn’t make as much sense is that sitting in coach class has not just stayed unluxurious, it has become the equivalent of a slum. My lifetime platinum colleague for instance made what I thought was a normal human request not an elitist one. After finishing the tiny cup of water the flight attendant poured for him, he asked for a second. Her response was “fine, but this is the last I can give you. You will have had a lot of the bottle.” This was water, not Veuve Cliquot he was asking for, after a lifetime of flying American Airlines. It was at that moment that I realized why the wealth gap does matter so much, and strangely it is only partially about wealth itself. The flight attendant certainly does not make a lot of money. My guess is that she is not a millionaire, as is spoken of in political speeches about the wealth divide. In fact it is not even such a great job. Probably she is treated worse and worse by her employer, and that treatment just floats past the First Class cabin into the Coach cabin where her frustration is released. What it does point to is that we have become more like an Aristocracy than a Republic in this regard.

To explain this analogy, lets consider the states I mentioned, the Red States who are leaning Republican in some sort of neo libertarian way. In those states the populations are more obese. They smoke more than the wealthy states. They also wear poor quality clothes that they can afford from places like Walmart. None of this do I blame on them of course, but all of this is visually noticeable. I don’t even consider any of these things wrong. It is a choice and if they make these things truly by choice then there is nothing wrong with it. I do know of course that this does not apply to all people in these states, and maybe not even a majority, but it is quantifiably true that it exists more in poor states. It is a way for us living on the east coast with a little more money to say, “those are ignorant people”, even if we consider ourselves to be more open minded than they are. Once this goes on for a while, it makes a transformation, where it is no longer the money but the appearance. People like the flight attendant who may not be wealthy start to identify themselves with wealth because they see it in the first class cabin. So they dress differently and go to the gym more. This however does not make them wealthy. The wealthy remain wealthy and the poor remain poor by relative standards, and that relativity can leave you feeling terrible.

So is that why the working poor vote Republican? Is it because they realize that life is indeed getting better, and that as long as the current system does not fold due to deficit, or immigrants, or any of the other fears that the politicians preach they will continue to reap these rewards, while us in the wealthier states in turn have a false sense of what poverty is because we have never experienced it? It is tough to say because basic human decency is hard to quantify. I am torn on this completely. 

A large part of my reasoning wants to continue to blame Oprah, or at the very least Bill O'Reilly. People are brain washed, and when isolated, these factors become important. It is though easy to see the positives in the numbers I mentioned from Ridley’s book, but hard to find out how many people are denied a third glass of water in coach class. Therefore we have to continue to improve and hope that we all notice the improvement, while acknowledging that likely whether things are better or worse it is how it feels that matters most.