Go read Steve and then come back here.

And tell me, please, what would be wrong with discussing this part:

When faced with the fact that people they thought less about than elves, despite making their economic lives possible, had beneifts long gone from their jobs, many were resentful. After all, they had been told their entire lives that college guaranteed success and confirmed their intellgence.

If some jackhole like Jack Welch can get his golf club dues included in his retirement, you want to tell me why a city worker shouldn’t expect a pension after 30 years’ good work? You want to tell me why a CEO getting a $10 million bonus can tell his employees the company’s fallen on hard times and needs to ask them to help pay for their health insurance? You want to tell my why educated people take it as a matter of course that they have no employment security while the guy in the upstairs office, no matter how many times he’s fired, will always land on his feet with a nice fat consulting salary and a severance package worth three times that?

I remember all the condescending head-shaking from Republicans (truly, the CEO party) during the last campaign, whenever anybody tried to raise those points, about how awful it was to encourage “class warfare.” And I remember being utterly confused as to why on earth that would be a bad thing.

When the majority of Americans are as alienated as they are from each other, there should be tension. There should be questions about whether a society that allows such a disparity between rich and poor is moral. There should be discussions about whether efforts to solve such problems should be made, and how far we can go in regulating and guiding and mandating care of one another, things that should be our obligations as human beings.

I’m not saying we should go out and behead the aristocrats, honestly, but I am saying there’s an extreme reluctance to have the conversation, and that needs to stop.

A.