Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution
Subtitle: Why Income Inequality Threatens Our Republic
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 432
ISBN-13: 9781101973455
Subjects: Equality; Income distribution, united states; Middle class, united states; Power (social sciences); United states, social conditions; Constitutional law, united states
Description: "For most of Western history, Sitaraman argues, constitutional thinkers assumed economic inequality was inevitable and inescapable--and they designed governments to prevent class divisions from spilling over into class warfare. The American Constitution is different. Compared to Europe and the ancient world, America was a society of almost unprecedented economic equality, and the founding generation saw this equality as essential for the preservation of America's republic. Over the next two centuries, generations of Americans fought to sustain the economic preconditions for our constitutional system. But today, with economic and political inequality on the rise, Sitaraman says Americans face a choice: Will we accept rising economic inequality and risk oligarchy or will we rebuild the middle class and reclaim our republic?"--Page [4] of cover.