Ross Douthat in today’s Times
Many of my “idle thoughts” line up closely with Ross Douthat’s column in today’s Times. He begins by pointing out that the latest census figures show that the gap between the wealthiest Americans and everybody else is widening.
This puts the Democrats on the spot because more than the Republicans they have made it almost their raison d’être to bring about a lessening of the income gap. On the spot because now they control the executive and legislative branches of the government.
But, as Douthat makes clear, the usual Democratic response to inequality, juggling the tax code, will not this time be enough. And in any case this will not happen because the Democrats, no less than the Republicans, are now the party of the rich.
At this point Douthat’s argument becomes most convincing. To create a more egalitarian America, he says, we (at the present time the Democrats) would have to address the real trends that are driving the income inequality gap, trends that run much deeper than the tax code.
These trends are principally three, the present high numbers of low-skilled immigrants entering the country, the collapse of the two parent household, and the dismal failure of the cartel, or educational establishment responsible for educating the nation’s poorest children.
Douthat reminds us that to buck and then reverse these trends the Democrats would have to turn against three of their most important constituencies, Latinos, single parents, and the teacher unions. And they are not about to do that.
The way out? For the Democrats it may well be to follow the European example and enlarge the public sector. For when this happens, as the Europeans have shown, the income distribution is more egalitarian.
The rub, Douthat cautions — ever larger government, will bring with it ever slower growth.
