So, a thought occurred to me while I watched the Republican response to Obama's State of the Union (which I didn't see, so I won't judge). The speaker - a former governor of Indiana, I think - was talking about Obama's record of pitting one part of the American people up against another. But, the speaker says, "we're all in the same boat", pointing to the fact that Americans are all in a crisis and we need to get out of it together.
Though an adept metaphor, he did leave out a small detail that nagged me a little: we might all be in the same boat, but while the one percent are dining with the captain on the bridge, forty million poor Americans are the ones rowing the (damn) boat, and the lower middle class are the ones serving up the extravagant feast on the bridge.
Should we make sure they have benefits - like the occasional pothole for a breath of fresh air? Or, a chance to see - much less decide - where the boat might be heading? I don't think so. Then who'd row the boat? Fancy seeing the captain try to return home when we've got nothing but countervailing winds wherever we look? No, you better return to your position at the oar.
BUT, FOR THE 50% at the bottom: fear not! So long as you're on the boat, you can dine with the captain, because through hard labor everything is possible. Never mind that most people on the bridge would rather spend their money keeping you off the bridge, than they would spend their money to expand the amount of people who'd fit at the table. And never mind that we're in such a hurry to make you row faster that we'd rather neglect your sustenance in the long term to see the boat sail a little faster in the short term.
Until your day of success, though, be happy that we let you row the boat.
P.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
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