David Brooks maintains that America is sick, and he’s not afraid to identify the culprit. It’s the “meritocracy”: the college-educated professionals who marry each other, live in gated communities, and engage in helicopter parenting in order to perpetuate their ill-gotten entitlements. They have destroyed social mobility in this country. It is they, not the one percent, who are the real problem.
Of course, Brooks has no clue how to deal with this issue, which is really the inevitable product of the evolution from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. He also disregards the increasing influence and wealth of the one percent. For today’s purposes, however, the importance of his opinion, which is widely held among Republicans, is that it is an implicit shot across the bow of Elizabeth Warren, whose core constituency is the 10 percent. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, appeals to a less educated audience, and may even agree with some of his critique.
How would Warren respond to this? If I’m Bernie, I would do my best to find out; there are opportunities for him here.