In this segment from The American Ruling Class...

In this segment from The American Ruling Class (2005), Barbara Erenreich speaks passionately on behalf of the unjustified, intentional misery of low-wage earners in America.

There is something fatally attractive about joining the ruling class, starting of course with the pay, but also with the prestige and the like. But fatally ought to go with attractive, in many cases, because it means for a large part you’re getting ready to forget about half of what you learned at Yale or anywhere else, that there are obligations in this democratic republic which I still, perhaps naively, believe need to be factored in. I do not actually believe that society is best served by everybody running avidly after their own self interest. I particularly think: that it is betrayal when the best and the brightest decide that their being the best and the brightest means that they jump on the gravy train and tell everybody else kiss mine as I leave the room. If there is no last morality here to be offered, it is an individual question. The last thing people always say as they go out is not ‘I wish I had had more money.’ They’re usually wishing something else, about what they did with their lives. (former State Dept. spokesman)

The film is a peculiar, unique “musical dramatic documentary” that explores the moneyed seat of power that has been influencing American policy towards its interests for decades. Who are the ruling class? What’s an alternative to the status quo that can be more in line with our imagined, socially-conscious ideals? John Kirby, the filmmaker, presents an enlightening, amusing look at this deeply problematic facet of modern society. His audience is specific. He is speaking to people like me; young mid-twenties, concerned, and modestly privileged enough to make choices, but for whom it is too easy to make the easy ones. The film features some outstanding voices of our time, including scenes with Howard Zinn and Kurt Vonnegut.

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