I wrote this for the Health Care Oregon email list, responding to a post:
I think the increased opposition to income redistribution has a lot to do with the self-interest of the middle class.
Starting in the early 1970s, for a variety of reasons, it became more difficult to maintain a middle-class income. The middle class tried to preserve its standard of living by:
1. Putting their wives to work.
2. Running up credit card, mortgage and student loan debt.
3. Reducing savings.
4. Rebelling against taxes.
The tax revolt required them to turn against any government program that did not seem to directly benefit them. Thus poor people because a target. Middle-class people cooked up an entire ideology to justify this. They are focused tightly on their jobs. Being middle-class is a full time job, and they're highly specialized. Most of them, regardless of how theoretically well-educated they are, know almost nothing about public policy issues. They like the way they are living in their consumer paradise, and they see no compelling reason to change anything. They're also a majority of the voters. They feel threatened by the rest of us, don't want us to be even visible, thus the vicious prejudice against and suppression of the homeless.
Converting them is not an option. We need a militant pushy Poor Power movement that uses disruption to force them to give us what we want. Our demands should include:
1. A guaranteed annual income.
2. A livable minimum wage.
3. A lot more affordable housing.
4. Single-payer health care.
We need to stop voting for any politician, regardless of party, that doesn't advance our interests. Exert pressure.
Whatever happens to be going through my mind at the moment.
