come from. That’s not an American invention! less flexible. ruling class is made, not born.
Voltaire said ‘the comfort of the rich depends on an How do you see America’s healthcare system, their Do you think that will ever change?
abundance the poor.’ That’s as true now as it was in education, minimum wage – is it comparable to You want that to happen. The question is ‘made
18th Century France. That is why our agricultural the rest of the Western world? along what lines?’ Do you come up with somebody
industry is dependent upon illegal labor. According to the UN figure we don’t compare very like Franklin Roosevelt or George W Bush, there’s a
Do you see any contradiction in your upbringing well. Our health insurance, in terms of longevity difference in quality, in the product. They’re
and what you speak about? Or do you think it’s and education, ranked among the industrial nations both…they both come out of the affluent sector of
your duty because you are conversing and well down the list. American society. Roosevelt goes to Harvard and
interacting with some of the big high profile Which is surprising, as America seems to lead. Do George W Bush goes to Yale. You can put it this
men of America? you think that your articles, or any articles, or way, we’re not making the ruling class with the same
No, no I wouldn’t see…what would be the people reading a $6 magazine, or buying a book or craftsmanship as we used to make.
contradiction? I mean I grew up knowing what see a film about all of this… do you think that it is Do you think that the awareness you’re trying to
it was. actually changing? cause in the upper parts of the class system will
Knowing what hard work was? I guess I mean Sure I think it has a chance at changing over time. trickle down then?
your children have married very well, you have a Many of the ideas that were put into effect by Revolutions don’t get made by the working class.
good job, you will never be broke. Do you want Franklin Roosevelt during what was called the ‘New They get made by the disaffected members of the
to educate people through your writing, through Deal,’ were actually being promoted by the middle class.
the talents that you have? progressive movements in the US in the very early But the American middle class seems to be huge.
Yeah. One writes about the society one lives. I’m 20th century. The point is to get the ideas into And it’s not very disaffected at the moment. A lot of
describing what I see, what I know. It’s what circulation. And at some point, God willing people are doing very well. I mean are very well
writers do. [laughs], they find their way into the…ah… word entertained by the circuses performed in the
Would any of your children have worked for
minimum wage?
I would hope not [laughs].
That’s what I mean. You have that luxury of saying
‘I hope not’ whereas many Americans don’t have
that luxury. They don’t have the skills, they don’t
have the money to send their kids to college.
I would hope that the best universities in the US
would be free, as they are in France and in Japan.
Do you think that would ever happen?
Not in the foreseeable future. In the 19th century
the idea of extending education to everybody in the
country was a very…ah…the land-grant colleges
that was set up during the Lincoln administration.
The idea is to make education as accessible and as
free as possible. And we’re getting away from that,
which is a shame. It’s now more expensive. It’s not
only the $45,000 you have to pay to go to Harvard,
it’s the rising tuition in the public schools, public
universities anyway. Public schools are still free and
should be. In my view.
In that diner scene with Barbara, she makes a
point that one day soon the minimum wage
workers will unite and stand up, sort of seek
justice. Do you think this would actually happen?
I think the minimum wage should certainly be
increased. They’ve increased it slightly but not
enough. At the very minimum it should be $10 an
hour. I think that would be a great boom for the
economy as a whole. I think it’s much better than becomes flesh. That happens. media... There’s also never really been a left
giving people welfare. Is there anything else you’d like to add? opposition in America. Everybody is an expectant
Do you think that these min wage workers would I think as the disparities become more apparent, or capitalist [laughs]. But as it becomes more apparent
stand up for their rights, or do you think it’s more people understand them coupled with to more people that those expectations are probably
people that are in a comfortable position that can the…ah…if we continue to go on the way that we misplaced there may be enough agitation for some
argue for, or rally for, these people to get up? are going where the rich and the poor are receding kind of reform or redistribution of wealth and
Yeah for sure, it would be the people who would… from one another at light speed [laughs] then, that’s power. /
Any advance is likely to be made by people who are the end of the democratic idea. And the United
sufficiently well educated or eloquent or uh…feel States will transform itself into some other system. Lewis Lapham served as editor of Harper’s Magazine
themselves able to make the arguments. That’s the Probably a fairly rigid oligarchy. And that will be from 1976 until 2006. In 2007 he begin his own,
lesson that they teach at all the American high-end fun for some people, but not for most. Lapham’s Quarterly. Watch Lewis Lapham’s ‘The
universities. Essentially, ask not what your country Is that oligarchy, is that who you think is actually American Ruling Class’ on the Sundance Channel.
can do for you, but what you can do for your the American ruling class? To find out more or to purchase the DVD visit
country, to those to whom much has been given, America makes it’s ruling class the way it makes www.TheAmericanRulingClass.org
much will be asked. That’s the way they put it in 747s, they call it the meritocracy. That’s why people
the…and that’s part of the American ideal, but it’s pay $45,000 a year to send their children to Yale in
not working that way when you have the clerk or the hopes that that kind of education will be a ticket
Above, Businessmen getting their shoes
the worker on the assembly line making $7.50 or $8 of admission to the Wall Street money factories, or
shined at Rockefeller Center
an hour and you have the CEO making $100M a the big law firms or the media or the courts. And Left page, Fifth Ave in Midtown Manhattan
year. The class system is becoming more apparent, you have to make a ruling…in the United States a
41 / 96
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100