Back in Mighty Oregon's race for Governor, the consensus is that my man Kitzhaber housed his basketballing opponent in their debate. Kitz is behind in the polls, so let's hope people were watching. This is a good close:

I particularly like the "I'm asking for your vote" line. G-Dubs did it and it was savvy. Be direct; it works. Even more important is the way in which he addresses the fundamental reality that things are bad and we need to do something.

This is in stark and disappointing contrast to the President, who still seems to think that he'll be judged on his campaign promises, all of which were made before the biggest financial collapse in 70 years, and that what he needs to do is defend his past two years. If Obama is going to be a net asset in this midterm election, he needs to communicate to people that there's a lot more to be done, and he's the man for the job.

Paul Krugman, my dog:

So: I support tax increases that will reduce my own after-tax income; I worry greatly about unemployment, even though my own living is secure; I warn about growing inequality, even though I’m of the class that has gained from rising disparities; I’m upset about the direction this country is going, even though my own life is comfortable. And this is supposed to cast doubt on my motives?

This is what I jokingly refer to as being a "class traitor." But it's not all patriotism or Noblesse Oblige, it's also the proverbial enlightened self interest. To wit, none of my prosperity is possible in a world without a vibrant, literate, educated middle class. As a creative/enrepreneur, I have no desire to end up as a toady to some 21st Century DiMedici. However, without a rich economic infrastructure to draw, on, it's that or back to the land for me.

Also, as people much more well off than I have pointed out, being Brazil kinda sucks for them. Helicoptering everywhere sounds like fun, until you remember you're doing it to avoid being kidnapped for ransom. That's no way to live even for a rich person.

Quite pithy, that Duncan Black:

I'm someone who used to have a bit of respect and deference for The People In Charge. You know, Senators and such. Now I think most of them truly suck and worry that elites are going to destroy the country.

That's pretty much my story too. I don't like/respect authority figures, but when it all got started I sort of assumed that most of the People In Charge (or "P.I.C."'s as we used to call them back at Oasis Natural Food Store) were probably smart, decent and hardworking. I don't believe that anymore. It really is an aristocracy, and it sucks wind on both style and substance.

It's been this way for a while, but finally we're seeing the massive obviousness of it all:

When it comes to cutting benefits for poor and middle-class seniors, or cutting the pay of our military personnel while forcing our veterans to pay more of their own health care costs — much of which likely resulted from illness due to their service in two long wars — what we hear from Washington elites is the great need for “shared sacrifice” to bring down the deficit. Yet, when debating the idea of allowing taxes on millionaires (and here it might be good to remember that two-thirds of the members of Congress are themselves millionaires) to return to what they were under Bill Clinton, it is all “damn the deficit we can’t let the wealthy suffer during this economic downturn!”

To be fair, this isn't the precise position of "all our political leaders", but it is in fact the pervading cultural norm among the power elite: the concerns of the wealthy are given much more attention than those of the middle class, and forget the poor. It is also the principle philosophy of a non-trivial number of individual elected officials who will go to the mat specifically to protect elite interests (Joementum, I'm lookin' at your jowls; Liebermania is just another word for being a sold-out hack).

It isn't this way all over the world. As we become more and more "like Brazil" in massive inequity and increasingly entrenched social underclass, the Brazillians are making steady progress in the opposite direction: decreasing inequality, lifting up more and more people into literacy and nurturing a small but growing middle class of entrepreneurs and social stake-holders. Estados Unidos is still a better place to live, sure, but if these trends continue...