Evidence-Based Information and Analysis
Contents:
The Revolutionary Promise • From Revolution to Media Spectacle • How We Lost Our Revolutionary Principles • We’ve Been Trapped in a Weird Economic Cycle • Returning to Revolutionary Principles • Economic Independence Enables Political Freedom • Making “We the People” Real Again
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Further links from the article (→ indicates articles by this author):
• The Declaration of Independence • The Liberal Republicanism of the Founders • History Extra for October 21, 2021 (Andrew Jackson and the spoils system) • The Gilded Age • New Deal: United States history • The New Deal in New York City, 1933—1943 • Public Service is Not a Business • Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons Why It Just Doesn’t Work • The Trickle-down Tax Code Failed. In 2025, We Have an Opportunity to Think Bigger. • Why does the economy do better when Democrats are in the White House? • Media and Politics in the Age of Trump • How Trump Shaped the Media • Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential • Full List of Fox News Personalities Serving in Donald Trump Administration • Wealth inequality in the United States • Explainer: Why a Strong, Healthy Middle Class Matters • Voting is Infrastructure • Main Street Isn’t Failing. It’s Being Abandoned. • Breaking the Spell — Implementing Solutions for a Resilient Democracy • Reaction → Resilience → Transformation •
May 30, 2025
Public services and private businesses exist for fundamentally different reasons. Businesses are designed to generate profit for their owners or shareholders. In contrast, public services exist to meet collective needs—like education, health, safety, and infrastructure—that cannot be addressed adequately by individuals or local groups alone. At its core, public service is about serving people, not generating income.
America’s strength—economic, civic, and military—has never come from wealth. It has always come from the people who keep the country running. The workers. The citizens. The millions building, repairing, transporting, teaching, learning, and growing.
We call it the “middle class,” but that label is fraying. Today, millions of full-time workers can’t afford an apartment, a car repair, or a future. Many can’t even afford to work—because without housing, transportation, or childcare, holding a job is out of reach. And many who once lived securely in the middle class have been pushed down into poverty—or worse, into homelessness.
This group—the ones doing the work, holding up the country—are the body of the nation. And when the body breaks down, the whole system fails.
When this group is stable, America is strong. When it collapses, the nation fractures. That’s not just an economic concern—or a “social issue.” This is a national security risk.
The post-WWII middle class wasn’t an accident. It was built through public investment, strong labor protections, and fair taxation. Wages grew with productivity. Families bought homes, sent kids to college, and looked to the future with confidence.
Over the past 40 years, that foundation was deliberately dismantled. Wages stagnated. Unions were weakened. Public services improved under some administrations—but are again under attack.
Today, the American worker is often one emergency away from collapse.
Far too many who should be part of the middle are shut out entirely—not because they won’t work, but because life is unaffordable. That’s not a moral failure. It’s a structural one.
And when enough people lose access to stability, the nation itself becomes brittle, unprepared, and more vulnerable.
This isn’t a story of the rich getting richer. It’s about wealth being pulled from the base and funneled upward.
Low wages and unstable jobs push workers onto public assistance—while corporations post record profits. For decades, companies have paid wages so low their workers qualify for food stamps—outsourcing labor costs to the public.
This is extraction and extortion, packaged as efficiency.
Now, with safety nets unraveling—the natural result of policies that weaken the American body—the illusion is collapsing. You can’t hollow out a nation’s base and expect it to stand. Without investment in the people who hold the country up, we are not a functioning society.
Most people think of national security as weapons, borders, and foreign threats. But real security depends on internal strength—the ability to endure crisis, adapt, and stay united.
A strong middle class creates that strength.
It’s the middle class that staffs the military, drives ambulances, teaches the children, and keeps the lights on. It’s the middle class that responds to disasters and keeps the country moving. And when it’s stable, it believes in the system, participates in democracy, and pushes the country forward.
When that stability breaks down, the consequences ripple outward.
Fear replaces faith. Fear turns to anger.
When people are angry, everything is at risk:
— Trust evaporates—not just in government, but in daily life — Crisis management slows; people can’t recover if they’re already on edge — Authoritarian movements gain ground; strongmen sound convincing when systems feel hollow — Fear seeks a target, fueling division and scapegoating—fertile ground for propaganda
This is present reality.
You don’t achieve national security by concentrating wealth at the top. You create fragility—a country stretched thin, with too few holding up too much.
The strongest middle class in American history didn’t just magically appear. It came from deliberate choices:
And for a time, it worked.
We built an economy that lifted people up—and supported those who couldn’t stand on their own.
We can choose that path again. This time, we don’t have to guess what works. We already know.
Here’s what a strong, secure nation looks like:
— Wages and worker protections — Affordable housing and modern infrastructure — Healthcare built for health, not profit — Public education that opens doors — Fair taxation and closed loopholes — Responsive government that adapts to changing needs
These are pragmatic facts—grounded in economics, history, and common sense. They all serve one purpose: To restore strength to the part of America that makes it work.
In the end, national security isn’t about defense. It’s about durability.
A country that abandons its middle implodes. A country that invests in its people becomes unbreakable.
Explainer: Why a Strong, Healthy Middle Class Matters Opinion: America’s Middle Class Will Not Save Itself
There’s a difference between simply getting by—and truly belonging to a country that values your life.
At its strongest, America thrived because the middle class thrived. The most stable, productive, and hopeful periods in our history were built on the idea that ordinary people could build secure lives through hard work, fairness, and mutual investment in the common good. A decent home, school for the kids, a modest vacation, and a dignified retirement—this wasn’t a fantasy, or a reward for the lucky few. It was a shared vision. And for a time, it worked.
But that vision has been systematically unraveled.
Over the past 45 years, the stability and fairness that defined middle-class life have been quietly stripped away—not by accident, but by deliberate exploitation. Wages stagnated. Costs rose. Unions were weakened. Public goods were sold off—sometimes to save money, but often to enrich a few. Public services became profit centers instead of public goods.
In theory, privatization can be useful. But in practice, when it’s driven by greed instead of public interest, it drains resources from the many to benefit the few.
Through it all, slogans helped mask the damage: “efficiency” (often just code for cuts), “freedom” (redefined as freedom from responsibility to each other), and “trickle-down” (which never actually did).
What happened wasn’t some drift of history. It was a strategic transfer of wealth and power, engineered by people who saw middle-class security as an obstacle—not a goal. A stronger, more inclusive future wasn’t the goal—only what could be taken in the short term. The middle class became a market to exploit and a voting bloc to manipulate.
Now, we live with the fallout. Our economy is top-heavy and fragile. Our politics are flooded with resentment, rage, and fear. People are working harder than ever just to stay afloat. Young adults can’t afford to buy homes—or even rent them. Families are living in cars. And the hope that once defined the American spirit is dissolving into exhaustion and quiet despair.
This didn’t just damage people’s lives. It fractured the foundation of our democracy.
“Middle-class security wasn’t a side effect of democracy. It was the engine that made it work.”
A functioning democracy depends on a strong middle class—on people who feel they have a stake in the system. Who believe their voices count. Who see a future for themselves and their children.
When that sense of connection—to the system, to their country, and to each other—starts to erode, we get disengagement, division, and desperation. People lose faith—and when they do, some turn to chaos, some to strongmen, and some to silence.
The American middle class can still save this country—if we work for it. That means fair wages. Public services that work. Affordable housing, healthcare, and education. Support for families and workers. And a government that sees people not as consumers or donors—but as valued citizens.
A revitalized middle class means more than economic comfort. It means young people can imagine a future without fear of debt. It means teachers, nurses, and service workers can live in the communities they serve. It means fewer families on the edge—and more people building stable lives with room to breathe.
It means we begin to reconnect—to our neighbors, our communities, and even across political lines. Not because we suddenly agree on everything, but because we once again have something real in common: a stake in the future.
It means restoring conversations around kitchen tables instead of severing the bonds that hold us together. It means the return of trust—not blind, but earned, slowly, through shared progress.
A restored middle class brings with it a more stable, generous, and less suspicious country. A culture that values fairness over fear. That builds instead of hoards. That supports instead of scapegoats.
It means a political system that actually reflects the will of the people, because more people can afford to participate and hold leaders accountable. It means less division, because when people feel secure, they don’t need someone to blame. And it means renewed faith—in each other, and in the idea that America can still live up to its promise.
Rebuilding the middle class isn’t some temporary patch or economic fix. It’s how we will restore democracy. It’s how we build a future that includes all of us—morally, socially, and politically.