The Middle Class
Remember Remember the fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Today's political topic: The much talked about middle class.
To understand this topic I think we first need to understand the origins of socio-economic classes. There was a time when there was no middle class. There were the nobles (The "upper class") who had power and money, and there were the peasants/serfs who had no money and no power. The middle class emerged as a new class of people developed that had acquired money and property. This new class was composed of traders, merchants, and artisans who made money that sometimes rivaled the nobles themselves. Members of three classes could potentially improve their condition to a higher class, but it was highly unlikely.
The world changed when America came into being. In America, we have no nobles; blood does not afford one special privileges or rank. In America, everyone is equal before the law (or at least should be in theory, more on that later). This destroyed the upper class. At the same time, if there are no nobles holding power over the peasants, then there aren't really peasants either thereby eliminating the lower class.
This system allows the lowliest to better themselves and through hard work improve their situation. With this new mobility, the people are better off because they can improve themselves and their living condition, and the country is better off because the people now have incentive to increase their performance. The American Dream itself is the end of the class system.
America's existence is the destruction of the old class system; but with democracy comes politicians. The class system provided them with a way to pit classes against each other to gain political power. Our current "classes" are merely artificial constructs of the politicians, created for their own personal gain. The class model only actually works in situations where the members of the classes have no means of changing their class. Because this is untrue in our country, the class model is only a construct used to label people by their income level, a very transitory and changeable state.
The fact is that many of our country's 'poor' don't stay that way - they drop into it from unfortunate circumstances, and work hard and raise themselves back above the poverty line. Therefore the lower class is so constantly changing and doesn't actually apply to a specific group of people.
Those who remain in poverty are most often aided by welfare. While not always the case, there are those in the welfare system that, instead of trying to improve their situation by working to earn a living, they do their best to increase their welfare income. These people have more children (so that they can collect welfare for their children) and try to have their children classified as disabled (further increasing their income). These career welfare collectors exist only because the welfare program exists, thereby encouraging the poor to stay poor.
The same goes for the graded tax system we have now. Why should people try to improve their condition when they are only facing higher taxation and increased harassment by politicians and government officials.
The politicians continually argue about the 'dwindling' middle class because they have defined it out of their model. The fact is that there are no real classes in this country. So next time the politicians come out and talk about the lower class needs more help, or we have to protect the middle class, or we need to take more of the upper class' money, remember - politicians created classes to pit us against each other for their own gain.
Until next time, keep fighting the good fight America.
The Gunpowder Treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Today's political topic: The much talked about middle class.
To understand this topic I think we first need to understand the origins of socio-economic classes. There was a time when there was no middle class. There were the nobles (The "upper class") who had power and money, and there were the peasants/serfs who had no money and no power. The middle class emerged as a new class of people developed that had acquired money and property. This new class was composed of traders, merchants, and artisans who made money that sometimes rivaled the nobles themselves. Members of three classes could potentially improve their condition to a higher class, but it was highly unlikely.
The world changed when America came into being. In America, we have no nobles; blood does not afford one special privileges or rank. In America, everyone is equal before the law (or at least should be in theory, more on that later). This destroyed the upper class. At the same time, if there are no nobles holding power over the peasants, then there aren't really peasants either thereby eliminating the lower class.
This system allows the lowliest to better themselves and through hard work improve their situation. With this new mobility, the people are better off because they can improve themselves and their living condition, and the country is better off because the people now have incentive to increase their performance. The American Dream itself is the end of the class system.
America's existence is the destruction of the old class system; but with democracy comes politicians. The class system provided them with a way to pit classes against each other to gain political power. Our current "classes" are merely artificial constructs of the politicians, created for their own personal gain. The class model only actually works in situations where the members of the classes have no means of changing their class. Because this is untrue in our country, the class model is only a construct used to label people by their income level, a very transitory and changeable state.
The fact is that many of our country's 'poor' don't stay that way - they drop into it from unfortunate circumstances, and work hard and raise themselves back above the poverty line. Therefore the lower class is so constantly changing and doesn't actually apply to a specific group of people.
Those who remain in poverty are most often aided by welfare. While not always the case, there are those in the welfare system that, instead of trying to improve their situation by working to earn a living, they do their best to increase their welfare income. These people have more children (so that they can collect welfare for their children) and try to have their children classified as disabled (further increasing their income). These career welfare collectors exist only because the welfare program exists, thereby encouraging the poor to stay poor.
The same goes for the graded tax system we have now. Why should people try to improve their condition when they are only facing higher taxation and increased harassment by politicians and government officials.
The politicians continually argue about the 'dwindling' middle class because they have defined it out of their model. The fact is that there are no real classes in this country. So next time the politicians come out and talk about the lower class needs more help, or we have to protect the middle class, or we need to take more of the upper class' money, remember - politicians created classes to pit us against each other for their own gain.
Until next time, keep fighting the good fight America.