Left Behind.

The problem with economic inequality and the loss of a comfortable working middle-class, especially in a democracy, is that the rich have stacked the system sufficiently now to pull so far ahead they leave everyone else artificially behind.

When I ran cross country in high school, you learned how to strategize as a team.

The top 5 runners' scores at the end of the race -- added up -- determined the team winner.  Lowest score wins the meet.  So, if you had one, two or even three outstanding runners -- the majority of the squad -- placing in single digits, you had a good shot as a team.

If you had even one runner capable of scoring so low, and the rest of them running in the middle of the pack, you likely would not win, but would at least be competitive.

If you had only one or two running competitively, and the rest staggering in at the back of the pack, you would lose as a team, though an individual might qualify for state herself.

That's really what is happening in America today.  "Winner take all."  With social media, we see it more now too.  The luxury gardens and yards of some in California say, compared to all those forced out of their homes and living on the streets due to lack of affordable housing.

The excellent educational opportunities for some... while overall the public education system is failing so many children today.  The well-paid corporate leaders vs. the ones struggling to get in to work every day to sell their products and live off only their labor, with no capital of their own to ever hope to "work their way up" in an industry...

Back to my cross-country comparison...

When you run alongside slower others, you encourage them to keep pace, to keep up with the pack.  If the faster ones in practice can commit to running with the pack, we can help pace others.  We can make them faster too.  Look at what Lea Thomas -- a stronger swimmer -- did to lift teammates' scores by swimming alongside them for a season.  They all dropped time and swam faster following the leader.  Look at how WNBA teams hire male basketball players to practice with their players because they are physically stronger players, and often taller, (not always, thinking 'bout Sylvia Fowles...) and can challenge and "up" the ladies' game in competition.

An individual who might have already qualified for state in past years, but would be happier to compete with the whole squad there, enjoying the experience alongside teammates, would strategize on how to improve the performance of others struggling to drop their times.

It doesn't mean giving them free pizza or donuts or telling them they are better than they are.  It means working harder in practice to improve their games.  Challenging them, not making excuses or worse, blaming others who are better... if you are cheering people just for making the team, without the understanding that the goal is to keep improving performance and helping the team win, you don't really understand the competition or how we win together.

One exercise we used in practice, was called a Rolling Run.  You ran in a single line, with each member of the squad taking turns at the front of the line pacing the others.  The faster leaders upped the speed but had to think about setting a pace that would challenge those behind in line, but that they could manage -- and learned they could manage, running alongside others who challenged them to honestly improve .  The slower ones tried to run faster when they were leading too.  After your turn at the front of the pack, you dropped to the last person in line, and then kept up with others...

It was fun, actually.  The miles passed faster.  And as a team, we got better and stronger overall, and showed some of the slower ones that they too could compete -- no excuses -- when given the opportunity to stay with the team running a faster pace together.  It's inspiring.  Exhausting sure, but in a manageable way, and no risk of injuries in picking up performance incrementally instead of trying to go all out on nothing...

Do you see how this would improve team overall performance, and teach the team leaders how to realistically pace others?  You want to push them, challenge them, but the exercise ends when there is too much gap between runners and they are no longer running in a straight line, but in a broken line... a few finishing here, and then a huge gap before the slower runners came in.

In a race, of course, eventually you have to let your fastest runners break from the pack in order to maximize their time and score the highest position against other teams.   But... staying with the pack, pushing them faster as you keep other runners in sight, then breaking and catching and passing opponents before the finish, often helped the team overall.

Again, it doesn't really matter how high the best runners finish, but how well those in the middle of the pack can compete when you are thinking of a TEAM win.  (In our days of global citizenship, the wealthy Americans seem to have pretty much written off the lower classes of Americans.  They take off out of the country every chance they get...  Nothing for them here in America anymore, I guess.)

America used to understand this better -- how to win together. E Pluribus Unum. Our middle-class was once the envy of the world.  You didn't have to inherit riches, or be the king of the company -- a favorite son -- to live a comfortable life, contributing to the good of the team and working to improve your standing, and becoming more competitive as you grew.

 We helped each other -- the wealthiest often lived alongside, or in the same zip codes at least, as the less fortunate.  Their children went to school together, and competed in academics and athletics together.  The doctor needed the plumber, and the wealthy wife needed the in-home help.  The plumber in turn needed the doctor too, and the in-home help often learned directly from the lady of the house, as well as earning pay to provide for her own.

We economically diverse Americans saw each other daily, shared some similar values but often agreed to disagree about choices and values in life, and there was less insurance (so that the big ones could never lose and would always be bailed out) and more emphasis on immediately facing the consequences of one's actions.  Cooperation was necessary for community survival.

In short, we worked together as a team to lower our times and improve our overall scores.  No more in America.

Now, we have the richest of the rich, but they are a minority.  Our poor, mentally ill and homeless are growing by the day.  The middle-class is dwindling.  And the wealthy just can't see it... or maybe don't think it will ever touch them in America.

How foolish that.  Remember Bill Cosby's son -- from family wealth beyond belief -- killed by a Russian/Ukrainian immigrant when he stopped to change a tire? He was wealthy and in a vulnerable place late at night on the side of the road... 

You will never be isolated fully and in a "safe space" from the rest of America unless you never plan to leave your locked-away places.

How much better -- for them especially living their rich ways -- if they might personally sacrifice a bit of the wealth that is killing them and their children to make this country a better place?  Instead, they offer platitudes to the poor, and pick and choose what I call the "jackpot winners", but these too are often a minority slice of their overall population.