The Crime of the Middle Class

Some of you, upon reading the title, may think, "What crime?"

To which my response would be: exactly.

What has the middle class done wrong to be punished so randomly and, it seems, carelessly by benefactors? What set me off on this point was not The Fountainhead, which I read ages ago, but rather the arrival of the financial aid statement from the University. These guys recently received $100 million primarily to help kids on work study and in other dire financial straits escape being forced to work during the school year. So, for obvious reasons, I was expecting the fact that these people (I would say unfortunates, but I've never met anyone who enjoys being pitied) were receiving help from an outside source to allow the University to help those of us who, though better off, would still have to regulate their spending and, you know, take a fucking job during the school year. But...nooooooo. Instead, they raised the amount I was supposed to contribute.

Yeah, great, guys. You receive a hundred million dollars to help kids focus on their schoolwork during the year instead of having to work--albeit with a government subsidy, which makes it so much easier to get jobs, especially in (specific to we future scientists) labs.... But who gives a fuck about the middle class? I'm sorry I wasn't born poor enough for you people to decide that I should finally get a break from having to work summers and school years (well, I didn't work in high school, mostly for legal reasons). I'm so, so very sorry that my parents did well enough to no longer have to freak out every time a major purchase was around the corner--and, even worse, that they didn't have the decency to become enough fucking rich to not have to impose the burden of a partial scholarship upon your High Exalted University.

--Aaand we hit massive ranting. But, seriously, this is ridiculous. There are so many programs put into place for exceptionally gifted but economically disadvantaged youngsters--and of course people who are rich enough can simply shunt their smarties into magnet schools...but what about those of us who managed to stay (or escaped) out of the real pits yet didn't have the drive, luck, whatever to shoot us into the upper class? I mean, it was almost lucky that my parents were seriously deficient in the money area when I was in elementary & such, otherwise they would have been screwed into paying for all of the advanced programs out-of-pocket.

Obviously, I'm not going to be a dipshit and suggest that money should be pulled from people who genuinely would not be able to scrape by without it to help those of us who, albeit with debts looming in the years ahead, could--but how about a little bit of fucking attention?

What's so wrong with being a member of the middle-class that we no longer deserve any sort of aid more exceptional than that offered to the upper classes (upper middle class, upper class)?




Vindication: A year and a half ago, I decided not to vote for Hillary because she would not be able to generate solid, moderate sentiment among voters; she would polarize those who were already polarized either into loving or loathing her....