To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (5499 ) 1/20/2000 10:08:00 AM From: Neocon Read Replies (3) | Respond to
First, America is less class- bound than many European countries. Second, no one denies that life chances hinge on many factors, including socio- economic background. Third, in the larger sense, even the distribution of intelligence is regarded as a matter of fortune. In America, people are judged by how they play the hand they are dealt, which means that someone from the slums who becomes the manager of a supermarket may be regarded more highly than a person "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" who becomes the president of a bank. The call to hard work does not mean that everyone will become rich, or fail to do so, through dint of character. In fact, most people in the United States are at least vaguely suspicious of extreme wealth, since it is often either inherited or the result of "winning the lottery" (literally or figuratively). Rather, it is an acknowledgement that how we respond to what fortune throws our way makes us "winners" or "losers". Someone who overcame many obstacles to achieve modest success is regarded with more admiration than someone with many advantages who frittered them away, and pretty much relied on his connections.
