The Fear of the Middle Class, the Courage of Bubba

I know a businessman about my age who has a large acquaintance of other businessmen across the country who, like him, are directly or indirectly involved in real estate or banking. These are red, white, and blue alpha-males and entrepreneurs who have lived the American dream. Most are upper middle class in income, many are rather well off, and a few are just stupid rich. They, like him, are more or less Conservative.

My friend laments that after last November, this group by and large did nothing and have since just kept their heads low and their mouths shut. Like him these entrepreneurs were horrified by what they consider a coup, and they fear they may be losing the country that was gifted to them. But as a group they are more afraid of being singled out by Cancel Culture, preferring a cowardly silence to risking losing what they have.

Methinks that any Middle Class anywhere is by nature both defensive and complacent. The system in which these folks exist has worked for them and thus they are inclined to protect the status quo as well as to embrace a historical perspective that justifies it.

Plus, being human they tend to be shortsighted.

The Bubbas and Joe-Sixpacks of the world possess all of the Middle Class’s shortsightedness, but not its stake in the game. Yet, like the Middle Class, Bubba can be deeply rooted in the land and have a powerful sense of tribe, and if he does, it is because he inherited and embraces the myths of his people.

Neither the Middle Class nor Bubba know their history but they do know this is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and the best country ever because Granddaddy’s granddaddy said so. The difference is that Bubba, with less to lose, is ready to fight for it. The problem is that Bubba, by nature, looks to the Middle Class for leadership, and that has been slow to come.

This piece was published on MCAtkins.com on August 12, 2021.