What\u2019s striking \u201d\u201d and crucial for understanding our populist moment \u201d\u201d is the fact that the leadership cadres of both parties aren\u2019t just unresponsive to this anxiety. They add to it.<\/p>\n
The intelligentsia on the left rarely lets a moment pass without reminding us of the demographic eclipse of white middle-class voters. Sometimes, those voters are described as racists, or derided as dull suburbanites who lack the \u00c3\u00a9lan of the new urban \u201ccreative class.\u201d\u009d The message: White middle-class Americans aren\u2019t just irrelevant to America\u2019s future, they\u2019re in the way.<\/p>\n
Conservatives are no less harsh. Pundits ominously predict that the \u201cinnovators\u201d\u009d are about to be overwhelmed by a locust blight of \u201ctakers.\u201d\u009d The message: If it weren\u2019t for successful people like us, middle-class people like you would be doomed. And if you\u2019re not an entrepreneurial \u201cproducer,\u201d\u009d you\u2019re in the way.<\/p>\n