The president is the billionaire head of a global business empire. His cabinet is mostly millionaires. Most members of Congress are millionaires. Most supreme court justices are millionaires. Millionaires make up less than 3% of the general public but have unified majority control of all three branches of the federal government. Working-class Americans, on the other hand, make up the rest of the country. But they have never held more than 2% of the seats in any Congress since the nation was founded.
In nationwide surveys of people campaigning for state legislatures in 2012 and 2014, candidates from working-class jobs made up just 4% of both Republican and Democratic candidates. In California – the one state that offers detailed data on the occupational backgrounds of candidates at the local level – between 1995 and 2011, workers made up just 4% of candidates for county and local office.
Workers seldom run for public office in the US because of the fundamental personal burdens associated with campaigning – doing so always takes a great deal of time and energy, and working-class Americans are far less likely to have the time and energy to spare. “When you are working 40 hours a week and working 40 hours on the campaign, it’s too much.” Campaigning requires taking time off work and getting help from political elites, and working-class Americans often can’t do either.
Qualified working-class Americans almost never appear on your ballot in part because powerful people are less likely to encourage or support them.
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