Barack Obama And The Middle Class He Pretends To Care About

Barack Obama is very persuasive when he talks about race, class and what it means to be an American.

He likes to speak about those things mostly because we like to hear about those things. When we talk about race and class and nationhood, we flex our identity muscles and in doing so we touch that most emotional side of ourselves- our existence. No matter how hard we want to talk about these things, emotions always end up dictating the discussion or the discussion on what the research really means. The attempt to deal with important issues rationally and reasonably goes out the window.

From early childhood on, we are taught about the social class structure as being ‘problematic.’ Somebody might have something you don’t and that becomes or is a problem. Your neighbor might have something you don’t- and we are taught that there is something inherently unfair about that.

In particular, Americans, most often by way of education, believe that the social class system is a tragedy that is unique to them (one would have to conclude that teachers are the group least likely to have traveled or have any experience with groups or cultures other than their own, or have absolutely no idea about anything beyond our shores).

If you ask most Americans to which class they identify with, they will almost always answer, ‘Middle Class.’ It matters little if they work in the coal mines or law office. Americans know that even if they aren’t really of the Middle Class they aspire to be. For them, that iconic station in life is achievable and within reach. ‘Next year in the Middle Class’ means a lot more to most people than ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’

Barack Obama knows this very well. His variation on ‘next year in the Middle Class‘ is a tried a proved slogan that has worked it’s magic time and time again. The slogan works because ‘Middle Class’ can be defined any way you like.

For some, Middle Class is defined as the college educated manager/teacher/engineer types. Most doctors, lawyers and accountants see themselves as ‘Middle Class.’ Others see the ‘real’ Middle Class as the small business people who employed others in small offices, factories or retail shops. Still others see the Middle Class populated with skilled tradespeople or unionized factory workers, Still others see the real Middle Class as the highly motivated group of people with pickup trucks who place classified ads stating they will do anything, anytime, anywhere and have enough skills to get the job done. Others clean 2 houses a day, 5 days a week for $150 a day, cash ($1500 a week, tax free- not too shabby).

Then there are the ‘others’ of another and parallel Middle Classes- blacks, Asians, Jews, and so one.

What do these Middle Class groups have in common? Absolutely nothing. They don’t mingle socially, culturally or even politically. This begs a question: To whom is Barack Obama (and others) talking? The answer is simple and unadorned. Obama, et al, are talking to the Middle Class consumers in all of us. What unites the disparate Middle Class is consumerism. We want the same fashions and the same cookware and the same replacement windows. We buy the same greeting cards and we root for the same team and mascot and listen to and buy the same music.

To be sure, determined and frenzied consumerism is a disease, brought on by a virus that attacks a community with little or no common culture or values. Despite the decades of efforts of well meaning social engineering projects that dwarf the Hoover and Aswan dams, what divides the Middle Class is as deeply entrenched as ever.

There are now disparities in the various Middle Classes in terms of overall health, disease and longevity- and that with the blessings of all the best technology has to offer. Death, like Lady Justice, used to be blond and indiscriminate.

While people in the inner cities might have the exact same TV, central air, DVD, dishwashers, computers and internet access as their fellow Middle Class citizens in the suburbs, their health and longevity are markedly different. While the state mandates identical educational standards for all, even within the Middle Class, there are huge disparities in who succeeds and who does not. The number of people with marketable skills and education are dwarfed by those who do not have such skills (and a college or university degree is no guarantee of possessing relevant skills).

There are many reasons this has come to pass, not the least of which is the myopic and intoxication with individual identity as opposed to status, an earned place in society. From Identity And Status:

Our true and real identity, that visceral part of us that instinctively relates to our family and ethnic group is fundamental to existence. Our real identity defines not only our best values and beliefs, but identity also defines our center, the best of who we are and where we come from. It is in that part of our identity in which we find our greatest comfort and our greatest potential at the same time.

Identity should not be confused with status. That more ethereal idea also identifies us, but in a different way.

Status is less about an idea and more about a concrete and definitive expression of ourselves, outside the group. Some of us are recognized as more influential than others, some less so. Some are more educated, others are recognized for their skills. Some people are more charitable, others are more parsimonious. The individual ‘who we are’ is confers a kind of status on us and in doing so, establishes a social pecking order of sorts.

The ideology of multiculturalism has produced an unhealthy emphasis on the self- so much so that the earned ’status’ of an individual is deliberately subjugated and regarded as an expression of ‘class.’ As far as the dogged proponents of multiculturalism are concerned, earned status is an expression of human ugliness.

Barack Obama (and others) plays on the ‘unity’ of the Middle Class using shared consumerism as ‘common ground.’ Nothing of substance ever needs to be addressed because ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are packaged in a way that does not ask anything of us- other than to consume the idea. Issues of behavior (status) are glossed over in favor of trite and meaningless expressions (for example, HIV-AIDS could be dramatically reduced by changes in behavior, an idea rejected out of hand as ‘discriminatory.’ Peace in the Middle East could be achieved by changes in behavior as well, an idea that horrifies Palestinians inculcated with the notion that being victims is far more preferable to being successful. If it takes violence and death to maintain the identity of ‘victim,’ so be it).

To achieve a society that embraces both identity and status and achievement, the multiculturalists must concede to a common identity that can be shared by all hyphenated Americans. The emphasis must shift from the first part to the second. Black-Americans must see themselves as Black- Americans, first and foremost. Italian-Americans must see themselves as Italian-Americans and so on. This is not a counter intuitive or even radical idea. We each live layered and multifacted lives. We love our spouses and children in very different ways. We choose to believe in a higher power, each in our own way and we respect and worship together.

When it is all said and done, fierce devotion to multiculturalism, moral relativism and identity have only served to drive us apart. We live separate live with every incentive in the world not to integrate with others to find common grounds and values. What was meant to promote equality and tolerance has lead to divided and fractured societies. We pretend those things don’t exist, because rather than deal with real problems, we are only too happy to buy into the vague consumer ideals of ‘hope’ and ‘change.’ Demand that the real problems be addressed and you are labeled a racist.

Democracy only succeeds when real problems and disparities are addressed and dealt with Democracies fail when real problems and disparities are ignored. Promises of hope and change do not deal with problems and disparities- they camouflage them. Equality does not come about with the redistribution of wealth. Equality comes about with the redistribution of opportunity and shared common values.

When free speech is put at risk (see Mark Steyn) the problem will not be resolved with the redistribution of wealth. When non political endeavors become politicized or are forced to take sides, democracy is weakened. When political correctness becomes a purview of government bureaucrats and ethnic tensions are mediated as if they were engaged in a high stakes game, democratic and civil society becomes in danger of collapse.

When there is no emphasis on a common, democratic and national culture, implosion becomes inevitable. Political discourse becomes warfare with a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude (supporters say it’s OK for Obama to want to talk to Ahmadenijad, but heaven forbid he reach a compromise with Republicans). Religious groups become commandos in unspoken of battles and war, some fought as proxies for ideologues (or worse) in far away places and others fought to influence local culture and identity.

Trade unions, academia and professional organizations are involving themselves not in the name of values but in the support of a particular identity. Civil discourse is no longer the center of our culture, having been replaced with noise and the ‘look at me!’ expressions.

Instilling fear has become the priority over protecting freedom.

See the Anchoress post, The Widening Gyre: Liberty Edition for a smorgasbord of ideas on liberty, reality and what real hope and change looks like (taken from her superb post, The Art Of The Painless Coup).

We must repeat, over and over, that Liberty is the means by which we created creatures are meant to live and to grow and be. That Liberty lives in the Truth. That Liberty lives where people can speak freely, without fear of injury or reprisals. That Liberty lives only when the press is free and unencumbered – when it is detached from events instead of entwined in them. That Liberty lives when people refuse to be intimidated into silence or acquiescence, whether in the workplace or within the community. That Liberty is the fragile thing that diminishes whenever one refuses to acclaim it for oneself.

Portions of this post have been previously published.