Political Quotes

“I wanted to say a few words today about the current debate over ``class,'' a term that has been ubiquitous in this election year. Its usage in political rhetoric is, I believe, misguided and wrong and even dangerous. Most prominently, we have a President who talks incessantly about class, particularly the middle class. Maybe you have noticed that. He defines class strictly by your income. In the President's narrative, someone who makes $199,000 a year is a member of one class, and someone who makes $200,000 belongs to another class. Does that make sense? Indeed, each day the President is out on the campaign trial championing himself as the great protector of what he calls the middle class, and pitting those Americans against their fellow citizens by arguing that the wealthiest class is victimizing them through the Tax Code. If wealthy people are not made to pay more, he argues, the middle class will be stuck in their current stations. What one class wins, he implies, the other class loses. In this, I believe he is wrong. Moreover, I believe such a formulation is contrary to four centuries of American history. First, I think ``class'' is a loaded term that is not appropriate for our debates about income, mobility, and tax policy. Implying there is a rigid class structure in America suggests some people were born innately superior to others, and that where you were born is where you stay. That is not what we believe in America.…”