Inequality and democracy

When Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty 50 years ago in Kentucky, nearly 30% of Americans were living below the line that defined poverty.  There are fewer of us beneath that line today, but both the poor and the middle class have seen their standing become more precarious every year.  Lose your good paying job and you can find yourself sliding down the social ladder very quickly.  Most households are a paycheck away from difficulty.  Meanwhile, lawmakers from the county level all the way to US congress continue to chip away at the social safety net, mostly claiming that those helped by these programs need to pull themselves up and not count on the government to help them.  Meanwhile, the same government has its hand on the scale, passing legislation and tax breaks that disproportionally help the top 10% and especially the top 1% at the expense of the rest of the population.  It's no wonder.  As elections become more and more expensive to win, only the well heeled and well connected can afford to enter public service.  It costs hundreds of thousands and even millions to win a seat in the House of Representatives and tens of millions to become a senator.  If you can finance your own campaign, you are part of the 1%.  If you can't, you will probably be beholden to the 1% for the funds you need to run.  This creates a pliant and indeed robust voice for the richest who are increasingly not even among us any more.  The disconnect is evident in republican talking points; cut taxes on the rich and shred the safety net and all will be well.  The mythical "job creators" will then be unleashed in the service of the rest of us.  As most of us intuitively know, this is hogwash at best.  The reason so many are so close to poverty is that so many have no jobs and have no money.  Less money means less demand.  It is a simple formula for societal misery, and until we address some of the above issues it will continue to concentrate wealth and ignore the factors which enable this unhealthy behavior.