Targeting the ultrarich is actually pretty unifying.
The Democratic party’s leading lights—from Elizabeth Warren on the party’s left flank to Joe Biden on its right—are all telling versions of the same story: The American people are working hard, but their economy is hardly working. Payrolls may be expanding, but wage growth is too damn low, while the cost of health care is too damn high. Inequality is getting out of control, and the American Dream is growing out of reach. Diversity is our strength, bigotry is our weakness, and progress is our destiny. Yet when they describe the root of those problems, there is one question that bitterly divides them: Does their story of middle-class decline need a ruling-class villain?
Warren and Bernie Sanders say yes. In their account, the true name of our affliction isn’t inequality but oligarchy. It isn’t an impersonal, abstract force that’s immiserating working people—it’s an extractive economic elite. “How did we get here?” Warren asked rhetorically in her campaign-launch video. “Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie. And they enlisted politicians to cut them a fatter slice.”
This story is from the February 4, 2019 edition of New York magazine.
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This story is from the February 4, 2019 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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