Aspirational

Todd's insightful post made me recall some things I've read about public opinion, politics and inequality. Like they do about conflict and resentment-based messages, the "experts" say that inequality has no affect on politics, because Americans don't care about it. This is no coincidence, because conflict and resentment goes hand in hand with relative inequality. Yet, as one might suspect in a highly unequal nation, political polarization- a measure of conflict- has grown in step with the rise in inequality. Resentment over inequality exists in high proportions, too. Substantial evidence shows that Americans disapprove of growing inequality, and that opposition tends to grow as different types of inequality expand. Lane Kenworthy has also written up an international public opinion study that shows that our preference for low levels of inequality is right up there with a lot of highly egalitarian European countries. Apparently, we have more in common with those latte-sipping socialists in France than mainstream media and political elites want us to think.

A message that incorporates both "aspirational" and "downtrodden" politics could be very potent, I think. But according to an unpublished paper I recently read, we all really need to do a better job articulating just how to address inequality- the public thinks that education is the solution, but as many a progressive policy wonk will tell you, it'll only get us part of the way there. And it strikes me as unfair that these two messages are framed as mutually exclusive. They're both needed because they target different audiences. It would serve the progressive cause well to take inequality as seriously as we do "aspirational" politics and test the best way to message it.

That said, I have deep misgivings about a populism that damages our sense of national solidarity, the feeling that presidents from Roosevelt to Kennedy have invoked to unite the country around common aspirations and grievances (Todd doesn't say this. I'm generalizing.). It's easy to get carried away driving people apart and not do enough bringing people together- too much condemnation, not enough compassion. This is just a challenge to overcome, though.