Yeah, it’s a weak digression from MAGA. But the United States and democracy won’t last over the long haul without literal government interference to maintain a robust middle class.

It’s not charity. It’s not “we can only help select Americans, so forget about the poor and screw over the billionaires.” It’s a pragmatic need because democracy, by definition, involves the fate of everyone without regard to status.

Look at France. One day, the poor – with no hope of rising to the rank of the elite much less a piddling middle class – killed all the rich people during the French Revolution. Look at Russia. The poor marched in the streets to tell their beloved czar that they needed bread. The walk did not go well, the czar killed many of them, the Russian revolution ensued, and the revolutionaries shot the czar and his entire family. 

In the grand discussion over the best system to organize ourselves – generally democracy (capitalism), socialism and communism – few people mention the weak link in all of them: the assholes. In each one of those systems, an extremely smart yet morally bankrupt person says, “They’re all working so hard to make life better for themselves and other people. I can take advantage of that.”

Communism and socialism almost beg for an asshole to step forward. He/she (yeah, yeah, he) says the right things and then does the wrong things. The best asshole leaders never admit they’re wrong. It weakens their image of infallibility. They slap around phrases like “the homeland” and “the people” and “my mandate” before locking down all branches of government, building themselves a palace gilded with gold, and creating a system that keeps lowly comrades in check, generally using “fear for my life” as the top incentive.

But democracies have assholes too. In fact, democracies have the very best assholes. They have to be savvier and more deviant than socialist or communist assholes because it’s harder to break an average citizen’s lock on power if they don’t willing give it up. To quote the Wicked Witch of the West, “These things must be done delicately.”

How to do it delicately? Billionaires who “own” a lawmaker or two, for example, can get them to slip pro-rich perks into innocuous bills. Slip in a few of those perks every year for four years, and you’re talking real money. But it’s not just “owning.” Lawmakers today need big bucks to even win an election, and most owe favors to the billionaires and rich corporations that helped them get there.

Need an example of laws slanted to benefit the rich over the middle class? Look at Donald Trump’s income taxes where he paid little or nothing. Did he lie on the forms? Maybe. But U.S. real estate investors enjoy tax advantages well above those of the average working man or woman, in part because it takes a doctoral degree to understand a) the wording of bills that go through Congress, and b) a legal degree and fortune teller to vaguely understand how those words might impact the nation once a bill becomes law. Trump says he only took advantage of deductions currently in U.S. law, and he may be right. But – and this is key – he shouldn’t be right.

Which brings us back to the middle class and MAMA. A nation that strives to keep 80% of its citizens somewhere in the middle-class range enjoys:

• Relatively happy citizens
• A steady tax base
• An increased ability to help its poor residents
• A high rate of homeownership
• A lower rate of hate and gun crimes because fewer people have lost all hope

MAMA is, admittedly, too simple. Not all problems revolve around economics. Still, a political focus on the middle class is the only thing that can maintain a democracy.

“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” – Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (1916-1939).

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