2012 America: A Marked Increased Interest in Inequality

Politics in the United States has, historically, not been an entirely honest enterprise. Similarly, getting elected to a political position has not been dependent upon issues or positions; rather, it has most resembled a popularity contest that gives lip service to the specific needs of the moment. There are, however, exceptions in various banner Presidential elections, all the direct consequence of a change in sociopolitical or economic moods. A single issue ties these exceptional Presidents together, eschewing the tendencies of American political culture and rising to the level of modern political awareness: an interest in inequality. More compelling still that this interest in inequality has also recently achieved the improbable, by becoming a central facet of public discourse. (A paper by Kyle Brady.)