From ancient Rome.

It's the "Crabs in a bucket" mentality. Like crabs struggling to escape from a bucket, Americans have been conditioned to pull others down who are attempting to climb out or achieve success.

With HALF the country BELOW that small wonder VonSchitzInPants has so many believing he is the “answer.”

"The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so people can believe themselves as smart as he is." - Karl Kraus

This is the reason.

Racial discrimination, while very real, was used, IMO, to open and to mask the economic wedge the repukes have been driving into the middle class over the last 70 years! LBJ's famous quote ""If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you..." applies both principles!

Divide and conquer, oldest trick in the book. Most people are oblivious they are being played as you said. Couldn't agree more!!

And it saddens me that it's still working. How do we cure this mass illness?

A Qigong master I studied with once said that love can cure anything, and if it doesn't work, increase the dose. Still trying to increase the dose but less optimistic these days.

https://m.

There is a reason the federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. In 2025, and Republicans refuse to raise it.

Does any rational person seriously believe someone could afford housing, utilities, food, medical care, child care, transportation, clothing, and other basic necessities on that amount?

Financially struggling Americans are so much easier to manipulate.

that EVERY billionaire started at McDonald's, or, ONLY 16 year old High School students work at Burger King.

jets and live in their own mansions and hob nob with the wealthy at the country club does not represent the lowly workers only the company owners.

Through life I have seen many of my old poor childhood friends come into money through inheritance or lucky stock buys and almost over night start hating on where they came from and those people trying to steal all their money. Money that They made with their own hands when an uncle or grand parent gave them some old worthless shares of IBM or AT&T or Esso back in the 60's and did not know it until they looked though old boxes they were about to throw away many decades later.

We the People are free because of you and a long line that begins before 1776.

The United States made a contract with me, that if I did well, served my country, kept my nose clean, I could earn a pension and veteran benefits. I think I honored my part.

Like 90% of us veterans, I really never saw a shot fired in anger. We sacrificed. I spent months away from my family at times, worked some 16-18 hour days, slept in a three-high rack that prisoners would consider cruel and unusual, got a couple of fairly messed up knees from walking probably 30,000 miles of ladders in my time, but I honestly believed I was doing it for a higher cause. Aside from a couple of cheap ass SCUD missiles thrown our way, and the one-time I had to dive under a desk when they sent a bunch of us Sailors over to the "sandbox", I was "in the rear, with the gear".

I have been retired well over a decade now, but I know that a lot of the people I trained are now in leadership roles. I am also pretty sure that some of the practices and processes I helped put in place are still being used.

I honestly don't think I did anymore for this country than a school teacher, accountant, bus driver, construction worker, etc. They deserve the same respect for their contributions to America as I do.

I even see it here on DU quite often. Other working people are not your enemy, even if those other working people are making more a lot money than you. People making $50K vilify workers making $75K. People making $100K vilify working people making $150K. I've got news for you, some engineer making $150K a year is just a working stiff too, they are not the enemy, they have to budget and save like anyone else. $150K a year buys you what $50K did in 1985, it's a basic middle class lifestyle, so why are we targeting people for scorn who were able to keep a basic middle class life style through 40 years of Reaganomics? $150K should be what most workers are making.

Working people are pitted against each other and they enthusiastically attack each other when one is getting anything they aren't getting.

It's most pronounced in minimum wage fights. It's not the rich leading the charge against raising the minimum wage, it's working people, people making $22 an hour at a factory who don't think other workers should be making $15 an hour for menial work.

Jay Gould said that he could "pay one half of the working class to kill the other half". But, looking at his actions, it can hardly be disputed that he tried.


https://www.thericksmithshow.com/political/the-wrong-fights-for-the-wrong-reasons/

There's a whole lot of Americans who would rather take a sharp stick in the eye than see other Americans who they don't like do as well as, or even a little better than they're doing.
Hate and jealousy. Republicans are great at playing off of people's fear, anger, and hatred.
That's why the Christian concept of DEI is able to be attacked so successfully.
And that's why the whole "anti-woke" thing plays so well in red areas of the country,.
Again, to be "woke", that is awake, is to practice Christian values.

Their potential earnings are far more limited. 48-52k is entry level in many fields. I have family who teach and I can't believe how little they make, even after years on the job.

Bottom line, they have a slightly higher floor and much lower ceiling.

How many middle class Americans would love to have a floor.

The goal of corporate America is to yank that floor away.

If we all become "just be thankful you have a job" lemmings, it's easier to be controlled by our masters.

The fact that we accept the "be thankful you have a job" bullshit, tells me America's Middle Class has become a bunch of sniveling pissants.