Ronni Bennett wrote a great post yesterday about The Economic War on the Have-Nots. It’s a good, if depressing, read. The policies of the last twenty-five years are coming together to create an increasing class of have-nots in this country and a lot of us could wind up in that sinking boat.

What strikes me is the great PR job the rightwing has done to sell it to vulnerable Americans. In pre-Reagan America you could be poor, but you could pretty much have a roof over your head, food of some sort on the table and medical care, almost no matter what. The right fed the resentment of the middle class against those people receiving public benefits and welfare was a controversial issue. If you were poor, you were lazy and unwilling to work. The fact that most people receiving assistance were either children or disabled was ignored and the righteous outrage over supporting those “welfare queens” grew.

Meanwhile, life was getting just a little bit harder for the middle class. Not much. Just a little. Housing prices were up. The cost of higher education was harder to manage and there was a lot less free money around to help with it. Emergency medical assistance was cut so that the middle class no longer had access to the system in the event of a catastrophic situation. The middle class was even less willing to pay for things for strangers that they couldn’t afford for their own families.

So, during the Clinton administration we ended “welfare as we knew it”. Everyone has to work now. And they do. Most adults in homeless shelters work. Most welfare recipients work. Most poor people are the working poor. And now the rightwing talking points include the disparagement of people who don’t make a lot of money even if they work hard their entire lives. Also, people who have earned a decent income but who have not managed to amass sufficient wealth to weather any storm that might come along are subject to derision.

There is no more concept of the “poor but honest” character in the stories of our youth. No more sympathy for the widowed octagenarian who finds herself impoverished. Only disdain for anyone who hasn’t got a respectable portfolio. Work isn’t valued any longer, unless it produces considerable financial success.

Today’s fiscal conservatives like to say that everyone has the same opportunity and if you don’t make the most of it, then you don’t deserve a decent life, let alone retirement. You know, there was some opportunity even in feudal times. An enterprising and exceptional villein could make it into the merchant class once in a while - especially after the Black Death. Most, however, lived a very hard life until the system ended. Is that the standard the United States aspires to? Both political parties need to be put on notice that we’re mad as hell and won’t take it anymore.