Who was it who said people are becoming conservative not because they want to be rich but because they want to be mean? That shit was spot on
This is not who said that, but my favorite post-election analysis concluded the same and, ever since I read it, I’ve just been seeing it proven correct over and over. (I am very sorry to tell you that a British person wrote it. I know.)
“The American Republic has been pulled down, possibly past the point of no return, by affluent people. People who have lives their ancestors would have literally killed for. Who on average spend 10% of their pay on groceries, the lowest in the country’s history, not to mention human history. Who are lashing out at others at the slightest inconvenience, because they want to lash out at others.
"Americans are prosperous, but without any deep sense of obligations to others. We are a highly commercial, individualist people, and when we let go of even a thin liberal conception of the public good, we become nasty, petty, small, vindictive and irrational.
”… This is a disease of affluence, not poverty. This isn’t a story of a working class that is being pinched. It’s the story of a working class that is doing better than any comparable working class ever has and a professional class who are angry about that. Who feel that this newfound security means they no longer show proper deference to their social betters.
“… many Americans, including many non-white Americans, are deeply troubled by the prospect of a symbolically equal citizenry.
”… People like having social inferiors. They will often prioritise this over not just narrow economic interest, but virtually any other concern. Once people gain a bit of comfort, the desire to punish people for not ‘knowing their place’ (be it the working class, women, or a racial group) can become their sole political instinct. The Trump movement is about reinstating or reenforcing structures that allow them to do so.“
amhrancas 