[Tenacious 1]

The rich irony here is that politicians and most elites have no clue about how middle class America earns and spends. They have lost touch with day to day living for most of the country. In their posh existence of power, popularity and self indulgence, they pander to their peers and bloviate their egomaniacal views and opinions to anyone that will listen in an effort to prop up their self worth. Their existence is sold as a charitable service to this nation and future generations. Truth is, their loyalties are hidden under a cloak of insecurity about their true colors. After looking in the mirror, they are resigned to protect the image they hope others have of them.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

The rich irony here is that politicians and most elites have no clue about how middle class America earns and spends.

True that. According to the first chart, my wife and I park pretty high up in that parking lot, but we're solidly middle class here in eastern Massachusetts. You cannot live in any of the towns that surround us . . . well, on three sides, anyway . . . if you don't park on that top floor---and you don't park your Rolls on that top floor at that.

And I'm sure cats who live in Manhattan, LA, and San Fran have it even worse.

[pierrem15]

In their posh existence of power, popularity and self indulgence, they pander to their peers and bloviate their egomaniacal views and opinions to anyone that will listen in an effort to prop up their self worth. Their existence is sold as a charitable service to this nation and future generations.

Very nicely stated.

It's all about the peer pressure: as long as the values of the peer group demand socialism and anti-Americanism as a sign of being a member of the 'enlightened', then that's what we will get.

It may have been a fatal mistake to cede control of the universities and the schools to the left, because that is where this peer pressure originates and is perpetuated.