The existence of a class of "noble poor" was theorized degraded by poverty and circumstance (See Moira Baker's "The Politics of They" http://books.google.com/... These ideas and this mythological underclass largely disappeared during the Great Depression and after WWII. A number of theories have been put forward to explain this process. One is that the opportunities for advancement and social mobility of the War years and immediate Post-war period, with the mammoth migrations involved, undermined the disparities of locality and class that were apparent in the pre-Depression years. Another focuses attention on the ethos of the returning G.I.s after the war, exposed to new environments, technology and peoples these former soldiers pursued the ideal of self-improvement with a passion and the new suburbs reinforced materialism, education and advancement, diminishing the ethnic identifications that had formerly seemed to define class lines. A theory of the effect of abundance in all forms of natural resources has been put forward as well, see David M. Potter, People of Plenty 1954, but applies more to earlier periods of social stress in America, but is less convincing.

In the past 50 years the Republican Party has embarked on a program to recreate a self-conscious underclass, beginning with the assault on intellectuals in the anti-communist hysteria of the late 50s, the portrayal of Adlai Stevenson as a member of a foreign and ruling elite, Agnew and Nixon's attacks on intellectuals, the folksy oppositions of Ronald Reagan and the rise of Talk Radio (or what really has been class war radio). This is a movement to a culture of the lowest common denominator. Our school systems struggle against these influences and our TV and movies idolizing dumb and dumber. Republican denigration of knowledge and learning has replaced a culture of "can do" American know how founded on the self betterment ideology of the founding fathers, like Franklin. America has become a place where those who display knowledge and intelligence are ridiculed. We are becoming a nation without an intelligencia. The great leaders of the Right bask in their claimed ignorance of literature or knowledge. From Karl Rove to Rush Limbaugh opinion rules over fact. Sarah Palin best epitomizes this state with soap opera family drama where the amoral behavior is emphasized with backwater homilies while South Carolina Governor Mark Stanford symbolizes the fallen everyman.

Britney Spears' interview on CNN in 2003 was an example of know-nothing culture coddling authority when she tells America to "Trust the President".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIbb42a6K4I&NR=1. The trend is brilliant in demeaning the opportunity of people of the working and middle class by negating the value of learning, knowledge and the satisfaction of mastering a skill or profession. The creation of a self-conscious underclass has proved effective for the Republicans thus far from the entreaties of Anita Bryant to Bush's war on Islam. The use of religion has featured as a central motivating element and the rising unemployment and fear of homelessness can only add fuel to a kindling fire that is dangerous and potentially destructive to the future of America as a free nation based on law and democracy. One should not forget that Hitler used law and democracy to gain power in a depression by motivating a mass of people using underclass ideology to create a self-identified "oppressed" group. The Republicans are using this process now by calling the underclass they have been creating, "oppressed."

The quality of discourse of the Republican "culture war" propagandists relies on know-nothing. Consider Ann Coulter who has written a critique of health care reform without a single factual reference http://www.anncoulter.com/... Coulter denounces government mandates on health care as the principle cause of the high cost of health care and the lack of coverage for many Americans. However, when one looks at the facts we find otherwise. In a study by Vanness & Wolfe (2002)http://www.pophealth.wisc.edu/phs548/fulltext.pdf.pdf we find that the mandate allows businesses to forgo taxes on health benefits to the tune of over 100 billion dollars while this mandate has not resulted in an appreciable increase in coverage in low income workers. Thus the mandate is entirely oriented in making the businesses more profitable. It is not the mandate that is flawed but it was the Bush administration's failure to enforce the provisions of the mandate, but then the Republicans only passed the mandate with voluntary guidelines. In other words, the companies got the tax break but there was no punishment for not providing the health care.

Coulter bases her argument partly on Cato Institute papers where mandates for car insurance are denigrated by comparing states with laws requiring insurance vs those that do not. The difference in rates of uninsured are given as 18% and 15% by selective use of various data. However, the issue is not the laws but the enforcement. States with and without mandates have chosen not to enforce the laws. But the analogy is flawed as the issue with car insurance is focused on driver responsibility and that means the damage caused by the driver on victims. This is not comparable to access to medical care where a person needs care and goes to a provider.

America is slipping into a pool of ignorance which will not result in bliss, but rather poverty and backwardness. We are heading to a new feudalism.