So why doesn't liberal Democrats' crass appeal to class envy work like it once did? Oh, they still do it. Just listen and you'll hear every other one of them mention the growing disparity between the rich and the middle class. (It used to be between the rich and the "poor". The shift in label itself demonstrates the weakness of the tactic.)
Michael Barone offers some very good reasons as to why they're not able to stir up the masses as they once could. I'd like to add one more.
America, the actual country and the idea, is first and foremost about liberty, not equality. It's our heritage; it's in our DNA. When it comes to income distribution at least, socialist-inspired radical egalitarianism remains for the most part alien to us. Oh, it has made many inroads, to be sure, but in spite of it, your average American still worries more about his freedom than he does about what the guy next door, or even the fellow living in the gated community on the better side of town, makes.
May it ever be so.
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