Look what happened when we elected Reagan and Bush II...
But I know that in the vast scheme of things in America, we're doing pretty OK. Both parental units have jobs that earn us a better than average wage. The kids have a decent enough school system and plentiful green spaces to play in. Our own parents are very generous with us.
But still...
We need a new roof. The kitchen cabinets are falling apart. The downstairs bathroom smells like decades old piss. Frankly, we never should have bought a house, but we did and now I have no idea how to make ends meet. College? Let's hope Thing One's soccer career takes off and Thing Two gets a nice aid package. Retirement is for other people. Luckily the only heavy lifting we have to do is mental so we can work later into our sixties if we have to.
There's something wrong with that.
As two professional educators at a prestigious school, we should not be wondering how to keep the roof from flying off our house. We should not begin and end conversations about college with "And then a miracle occurs."
The GOP wrested control of the government by noting that "your tax dollars were going to buy t-bone steaks for big bucks on welfare." While racist, it was also classist.
Right now, the middle class has to look at its economic status and wonder "How did this happen?"
Short answer: "Your tax dollar are going to buy third homes in the Hamptons for bond traders on Wall Street." We are gutting all sorts of programs in order to funnel money to the richest people in the world. And that's classist, too.
And it's not out of the question that we could do the same thing again, if we elect some dipweed like Tim Pawlenty (ok, no chance of that) or Mittens Romney. Combine a man with the spine of Romney with the ideological fanaticism of Paul Ryan and the machiavellian machinations of Mitch McConnell and before you know it, we will be looking at Mexico as a model of more equitable wealth distribution.
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