Rage of the Falling Elite: How downward mobility fuels radical politics(robkhenderson.com) |
Rage of the Falling Elite: How downward mobility fuels radical politics(robkhenderson.com) |
> Many assume the central conflict in society is between the haves and the have-nots. In reality, much of the struggle is between the haves and the have-mores—people who are already doing well but want the money, resources, and status of those above them. They often disguise this ambition as concern for the have-nots.
> The affluent were the most likely to agree with statements like “I want a position of prestige.” Elsewhere, a University of Edinburgh study found that malicious envy—resentment at others’ success—was one of the strongest predictors of support for coercive redistribution. The impulse, in other words, is not to lift up the poor but to tear down those who are one rung higher.
People who are starving must work. The elite class wants to keep your healthcare tied to employment for a reason - to keep you from speaking up for yourself because you are scared.
It is absolutely reasonable for people who have means to assist those who do not. In fact, one could argue that those with means should speak up for those who do not as a moral imperative.
The aversion to authoritarianism of any flavor is well grounded and we cannot cross that line, so your point on forced collectivism is valid. But when the current system is trying to burn 300 million years of fossil fuels in a cool 300 years without having a ramp towards a sustainable future during a period of wealth inequality greater than the gilded age, _something's going to give_. It's either going to be our economic system, our mechanism for ordering society, or 3C+ of warming.