StickWithANose

Since the election of Obama, it has become quite fashionable for so-called conservative media personalities to reference “class politics” as one of the many political transgressions of our new president. Despite the utter stupidity of the rhetoric, it is notable for the un-spoken assumption being propagated beneath the rhetorical tool… which is that the US is basically a classless society. From popular culture to news media, the picture of the US that is constantly being re-produced for its own internal consumption is that of a ‘middle-class America’ in which poverty is an aberration and wealth is the providence of the noble and worthy few. It is an image of American society that bears little resemblance to the fragmented polity in which Americans actually live.

In conversations I’ve had with friends who play the political party game and cheer for the elephant, they inevitably point toward the US’s relatively high median income of around $46,000 to argue that wealth is widely distributed among the population, but this is only true if one assumes an even distribution of income on each side of that median point and if one ignores total wealth all together. In reality, the US is a class-based society in which “class politics” is never very far from the surface of political discourse, whether that be the myth of middle class America or the myth of equal educational opportunity. However, once in a blue moon, a crack appears in the veil of ideology [h/t to Mike] that offers working and middle class folks a window into the world of the powerful. So, without further comment, I offer you [my humble reader] two opportunities to take a glimpse at how the other 1% of the population lives. [1][2] For the discursively minded, I encourage you to note the framing of each article… interesting stuff.