Dave Peck's Blog - Archived Entry

In a recent white paper, Dyske dissects how the intellectual Left has alienated both the poor and the rich with its broken attempt to merge philosophy and politics.

Dyske argues, strongly, that the urban middle class operates under a false illusion of meritocracy. As a member of this class, I’m inclined to agree. In my world, economic stature can be explained rationally: the more we work and the more talented we are, the more likely we are to get ahead. However, in the world of the poor, no amount of work or talent may be sufficient to move beyond living day-by-day. And in the world of the rich, it was simply the luck of the draw that brought them good fortune. For both the poor and the rich, the world is clearly not rational. The intellectual left attempts to bring this same sense of rationality and logic to bear on its political efforts, a mistake which often has disastrous consequences. (See, for example, our current president.)

I wonder if this same line of thought helps explain why religion seems to be largely ignored by the urban middle class. Embracing religion requires tacit acknowledgement that the world is inherently irrational. The urban middle class sees no need for the structure of religious theology since the world can be explained more simply without it.