Illustration by Christopher Cruz
Uniting the People of the United States
A headline on a recent news article caught my eye by declaring: “Why Americans Disagree on Everything.”
“I disagree with that!” I said to myself.
Indeed, the untold story of today’s United States is the good news that “We the People” fundamentally agree on more than what supposedly separates us. It is true that our daily media feed relentlessly pushes political negativity and discord, just like it’s true that hyperpartisan politicians grab attention by hammering their narrow views into swords of hatred. But that’s them, not the greater us.
Even hot-button issues that dominate the Internet and talk shows are actually not all that divisive for most of us. For example, a majority of Americans (including many Republicans) oppose the rightwing attempt to whitewash our nation’s history by restricting teachers, museums, and more from addressing such realities as slavery.
More significantly, consider the real needs of ordinary workaday families, such as basics like living wages, protecting Social Security, busting up monopolies, cleaning up pollution, providing affordable housing, funding our parks and libraries, and stopping price gouging. Overwhelmingly, Americans in red, blue, and purple areas agree on what the government ought to be doing—and disagree with what it is doing. But the plutocratic, moneyed elites that now fund and perpetuate America’s corrupt and dysfunctional government profit by promoting hatreds in order to pit us against one another, praying that all of us don’t focus on them.
Don’t succumb to their self-serving lies. Instead, seek ways to unite in what we do agree on: specifically, our historic commitment to the democratic values of economic fairness, social justice, and equal treatment for all. Anything less is BS.
What Separates the Merely Rich from the Filthy Rich?
Roaring Twenties novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” Well, yes—they’re rich!
But maybe you’re doing pretty well these days and count yourself among the rich. That’s charming. But let’s check the latest wealth indicator: Do you have a “private concierge”? You might live in a megahouse, have a housekeeper and a nanny, and travel first class, but having a private concierge is what separates you commonplace millionaires from the filthy rich.
What do these personal servants actually do? “We fix problems,” says an owner of a boutique firm that offers “hyper-personalization” services to select clients worldwide. Want to get a table tonight at a fully booked restaurant in Paris? Don’t call the restaurant; call your fixer, who gets it done. If you’re going to a formal ceremony in Hong Kong, but—OMG!—you left your tuxedo back home in Oshkosh, your concierge will find a courier to deliver it on time.
In addition to dealing with such upper-class urgencies, these “lifestyle managers” also relieve the über-rich from having to cope with everyday details of real life. No need to call a plumber, plan a birthday party, or shop for basics—that’s why you pay $75,000 a year to have your own handler. They’ve become such a must-have emblem of luxury that even Chase Bank and American Express now offer concierges to their high-end clients.
What’s at work here is a decadent ethic of royal entitlement. It’s a grandiose (and socially destructive) assumption of superiority by the filthy rich, who misinterpret their wealth as worthiness. Oh, and we common taxpayers get to subsidize these personal concierges as well. Good times!