Poor people get screwed

One of the most fascinating and enjoyable aspects of being part of a great university is the opportunity to attend lectures by the many prominent scholars that we regularly invite to visit William and Mary and speak with our faculty, students, and staff, as well as members of the broader Williamsburg community.  This coming Monday evening, September 22, for example, Professor Larry Bartels of Princeton University will present key findings from his new book, Unequal Democracy:  The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age.  His lecture will be in the Little Theater of Tucker Hall, running from 8:00 PM to around 9:30.  There should be plenty of time for discussion.

Professor Bartels, the Donald E. Stokes Professor of Public and International Affairs and director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at Princeton University, an internationally respected scholar of political economy and public opinion, is going to speak about the political causes and policy consequences of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in America.  His book is just superb and has changed the way I think about the linkages that exist between income inequality, elections, and policy making in this country.  Obviously, I cannot do full justice to Larry’s arguments in a short blog post, but among other findings he provides compelling evidence that the income growth of U.S. families is systematically less strong under Republican presidents, especially for the middle class and working poor.  And although elected officials respond to the views of wealthier constituents, they largely ignore the policy preferences of low-income earners.  One of the real strengths of Larry’s work, I think, is that the presentation is fully accessible to non-specialists, and not surprisingly his new book has already generated significant attention from pundits and politicians, as well as scholars of American politics and public policy.

Hopefully, a large number of faculty and students will attend the talk by Professor Bartels and ask him about his findings and the implications for the 2008 election.  My guess is that many of those in attendance will leave Tucker Hall with a significantly altered perspective and renewed concern about the growing economic inequality in our country.  Too often in American politics, poor people get screwed, and if we are to improve the lot of low-income earners, we need to understand why and how much.