[donquixote99]

Why Trump? Why Johnson?

The average person has become a tiny microcosm of the aspirations and norms of elites — they’re not curious, empathetic, decent, humane, noble, kind, in pursuit of wisdom, truth, beauty, meaning, purpose. We’ve become cruel, indecent, obscene, comically shallow, and astonishingly foolish people.

That’s not some kind of jeremiad. It’s an objective, easily observed truth. Who else in a rich society denies their neighbours healthcare and retirement? Nobody. Who else denies their own kids education? Nobody. Who else denies themselves childcare and elderly care? Nobody. Who else doesn’t want safety nets, opportunities, mobility, protection, savings, higher incomes? Nobody. Literally nobody on planet earth wants worse lives excepts us. We’re the only people on earth who thwart our own social progress, over and over again — and cheer about it.

The point of the essay is that our rich have been hogging the social surplus to a radical degree, plunging the rest of society into a losing fight for less and less, so most can't even invest in themselves, and the maintenance and expansion of social infrastructure goes to hell. As a result, we're in nothing less than a death spiral. It's grim reading.

https://eand.co/this-is-how-a-society-dies-35bdc3c0b854