By Cliff Montgomery – May 6th, 2014
Duke University Professor Nicholas Carnes knows a few things about the American economy and its real influence on our society at large. After all, Carnes wrote the book on the subject – or at least a very interesting tome entitled White-Collar Government: The Hidden Role of Class in Economic Policy Making.
The Duke professor recently tackled the taboo matter of America’s economic class structure in an opinion piece for Talking Points Memo.
“Why do the rich have so much influence in politics?” asked Prof. Carnes.
One “big reason” often not mentioned is that “wealthy people are the ones in office themselves,” the professor pointed out.
“If millionaires in the United States formed their own political party, that party would make up just 3% of the country,” continued Carnes, “but it would have a majority in the House of Representatives, a filibuster-proof super-majority in the Senate, a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court and a man in the White House.”
And what about working people?
“If working-class Americans — people with manual-labor and service-industry jobs — were a political party,” they currently would make up less than 2 percent of Congress, stated Professor Carnes.
The professor points out that a U.S. voter sees America’s unequal class structure at work every time he or she goes to a voting booth.
“By the time most Americans get to the polls, the only options on their ballots are wealthy, white-collar professionals,” stated Carnes. “Do you want to vote for a millionaire lawyer or a millionaire business owner?”
The professor’s seven-year study of the American class structure has led him to the conclusion “that we have government for the privileged in the United States in part because we have government by the privileged.”
Carnes also pointed out in his editorial that his research shows “Americans from different classes don’t always have the same interests or want the same policies.”
For example, he points out that “working-class Americans are more likely to support higher minimum wages, more progressive taxes, and a stronger social safety net.”
“Affluent Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to support hobbling labor unions and giving tax breaks to the wealthy,” stated the Duke professor.
Carnes added that his research also reveals that a legislator who has spent a fair deal of time actually working at a blue-collar or a low-level white-collar job will more likely support left-wing economic ideas. This is true “whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, experienced lawmakers or first-term members, members of Congress or members of a city council.”
“The bottom line: government by the rich often promotes government for the rich,” declared the professor.
We may therefore conclude that a government for everyone must be a government actually run by everyone. Now that would be a real change.
