To the left, the problem is rising economic inequality, and the enemy is the 1 percent, who have gained disproportionately from technological change and globalization over the last few decades. An array of statistics supports this argument. To the right, however, the problem is not inequality, but the lack of social mobility, and the enemy is the 10 percent–the professional elite who exclude others from their class by marrying each other, living in gated communities, refusing to get divorced, not ruining themselves with drugs and alcohol, and battling furiously for advantages for their kids. They are hypocrites, say the right; they adhere to Christian values without actually believing in Christianity.
The logical question to ask Douthat, Brooks, and the rest of these right-leaning pundits, is what is your solution to this “problem?” Do you want the 10 percent to start taking drugs and getting divorced? Do you want them to stop caring about their kids? Is your plan to convert them to a conservative brand of Catholicism, and then impose their values on poor red people? These ideas are every bit as absurd as they sound.
The left-leaning intellectual class, by and large, is willing to tax itself for the benefit of red people. That isn’t the answer; red America wants to reduce the size of government, not increase it. As best I can tell, the only realistic response is that red people want the intellectual class to admit that they enjoy their wealth and privileges, not due solely to temperance, talent, and hard work, but largely to luck. They just happened to be standing in the right place when the knowledge economy came into being. If they lived in South Sudan or Yemen, all of that talent would avail them nothing. If the apocalypse comes, and everyone has to live off the land and fend for himself, they will all fall by the wayside, while the red people will manage to survive.
OK. I admit it. Red America, does that make you feel better? Will that get you off my back? Can we talk about the 1 percent now?