conservatism

democratic party

professional class

occupation / innovator as

journalist

historian

nationality

American

is depending for its existence on people never making connections about the world.

American conservatism depends on its continued dominance and even for its very existence on people never making connections about the world, connections that until recent were treated as obvious or self-evident everywhere on the planet.

is dominated by a professional class, not billionaires, but investment banking personnel are professionals, as are silicon valley ceos, and most corporate managers, and so on. Dedicated to advancing their own interests. As a result, income inequality grows and grows.

What makes professionals interesting to me is that they are a privileged social class. They are not the billionaire Koch Brothers, but their top ranks include some of the richest people in the nation. Depending on how you define them, certain kinds of investment banking personnel are professionals, as are Silicon Valley CEOs, and most corporate managers, and so on. My goal in Listen, Liberal is to understand what happens when our left party is dominated by this cohort and dedicated to advancing their interests. The answer is: Income inequality grows and grows. [frank in interview

is a class with clear interests of its own which we rarely stop to think of as being part of a 'class'. Instead we think of them as merely as being 'the best', i.e. The highly educated people at the top of our system of status and respect.

This is the biggest question of all, isn't it, and it needs to be asked because I have sketched out a picture of a country in which invisible and even unmentionable forces like class interest seem to pull people this way and that. It is particularly noticeable because the people I'm describing are the ones we always think of not as being part of a 'class' but merely as being 'the best': The highly educated people at the top of our system of status and respect.

is a walking, breathing embodiment of inequality itself, inging little songs to itself about how noble and right it is that the tasteful and deserving people are on top and the boorish stupid ones are on the bottom.

professionals are inequality on the hoof. They are inequality walking and breathing and singing little songs to itself about how noble and right it is that the tasteful and deserving people are on top and the boorish stupid ones are on the bottom. And then taking a break to smack their lips over a particularly piquant IPA or a delicately iced artisanal cupcake.

Thomas Frank

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Thomas Frank