By Wade Lee Hudson
August 18, 2024
Kamala Harris wants to “expand opportunity so that every American can not just get by, but get ahead.” However, “get ahead” means to “get ahead of somebody, to make progress further than others have done.” On Meet the Press, Governor Gretchen Whitman said she and the Democrats want to “pull more people into the middle class.”
This traditional Democratic Party policy adopts what Elizabeth Anderson calls “starting gate equality.” The alleged goal is to ensure equal opportunity at the outset of life, but this rhetoric is a lie. People with more privilege give their children advantages, and those who claim to affirm equal opportunity know it.
Moreover, the number of seats at the middle-class table is limited. The number increases slightly if the economy grows, but given national economic policies, the economy will never offer everyone a living wage job. Maintaining substantial unemployment and poverty makes it easier to control inflation, though other methods could achieve the same goal.
Despite the misleading rhetoric about being very close to “full employment,” millions of Americans aren’t able to make ends meet working one full-time job. As of January 2024, 38 million Americans, or 11.5% of the population, were living in poverty as officially defined. Worse yet, that definition is inaccurate.
A more realistic measure of what’s required to obtain a decent standard of living would find many more Americans are poor. Additionally, millions are in danger of falling into poverty and are anxious about it. Almost two-thirds of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and would be unable to pay their bills if they lost their job.
Given these conditions, the Democrats might best shift to guaranteeing everyone economic security and the ability to advance.
Enabling people to improve their financial condition is not the problem. You can do that without celebrating that you’re better off than others. You can improve your situation so you can better serve your family, community, nation, and all humanity.
Your relative position is irrelevant. It’s both/and; not either/or. The more others benefit, the more you benefit. Compassionate action promotes the general welfare, but the Democrats’ emphasis on the middle class getting ahead neglects low-income and homeless people.
This self-centered hyper-individualism reinforces the Top-Down System’s programming, which can arguably be called brainwashing. This systematic conditioning, which is embedded in the unconscious, teaches everyone to climb social ladders and look down on and often oppress and exploit those below, or submit to those above. For most people, a major motivation is the desire to be superior in some way, so even at home, they’re bossy, preachy, or controlling.
A Bottom-Up System would empower everyone, cultivate cooperation and teamwork, and ensure a good life for all. Transforming the Top-Down System into a Bottom-Up system will not be easy, but we can do it, step by step. Numerous examples already demonstrate ways forward.
I’ll be watching the Democratic National Convention this week to see if anyone addresses these issues, especially poor and homeless people, and will report on what I see and hear.