Many Pennsylvanians, Wisconsinites, and Michiganders who contributed the decisive votes are feeling sorry for themselves. “Peasant Revolt,” David Haggith headlined his piece at The Great Recession Blog. Never mind that this description isn’t even true—Hillary actually won a majority of low-income voters, while Trump won those earning more than $50,000 a year—who thinks of themselves as a “peasant”? Who, outside of a Sanders rally at Oberlin, invests his hopes and dreams in the government?
The real recipe for making your dreams come true is investing in yourself and your family, not waiting for the government to redistribute the wealth of others. Feeling envious of the kid who left your hometown to study engineering at Stanford University and launch a tech firm isn’t going to help you.
America isn’t a class-based country. Locations aren’t markers of class. “Flyover country,” a phrase that seems to be used more often by aggrieved right-wingers (even vineyard growers who live on inherited farms in Fresno, California), is home to Walmart, Koch Industries, GM, and the headquarters of some of the country’s largest businesses, not to mention huge numbers of future bankers, filmmakers, journalists, and policy wonks.
Californians aren’t a class of people. Being a resident of Washington DC means you were probably born elsewhere. Midwesterners make up 8 percent of those who live in DC, according to Census data. Only 37 percent were born in DC. In California, 55 percent of residents were born elsewhere. We are a country of movers and pursuers.
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