Speaking of reading (or the present cultural lack situation. “Malcolm X had it straight when he said thereof), let’s turn to my favorite economist- the first step in revolution is massive education of slash-humorist, Joe Bageant. Mr. Bageant wrote the people,” Joe wrote. 2007’s mind-altering book Deer Hunting With Jesus: Dispatches From America’s Class War. In his final blog post (entitled “America: Why are r peeps so dum?”), written in 2010, Joe Bageant The book audaciously predicted that America wrote that “Societies declining into obsolescence was becoming so unequal, soon the labor class understandably resist looking forward, and hang would find a way to rise up and revolt against the onto their past mythologies.” I often wonder country’s ruling class. Mr. Bageant, a journalist, what Joe would have written if he’d lived to see was raised in rural Virginia. (You can think of the golden 757 touring America, and the crowds his writing as a less personal, more researched of people proudly sporting their made-in-China predecessor to the 2016 bestseller Hillbilly Elegy). American greatness hats. With typical Bageant After George W. was elected for his first term, Joe sprite, he carried on: “Meanwhile, here we are, began writing about how his New York City friends American riders on the short bus, barreling into didn’t know or care about his Virginia friends— the Grand Canyon. With typical American gunpoint Joe’s original American community and family. optimism, we’ve convinced ourselves we’re in Joe’s writing very thoughtfully worries about his an airplane.” Virginian friends’ declining relevance in the global economy—and their lack of understanding of this I write this section not to provide answers, but context. 79