American then (25 years ago) and now

Louis "Studs" Terkel was born in New York into a family of Russian Jewish immigrants in 1912. Although he graduated from Chicago Law School, he never practised, becoming instead a radio DJ, sports commentator, TV emcee,  host of a long-running radio talk show, and -- most notably -- a historian, author and veritable national treasure. He died almost five years ago.

Although arguably a member of an educated minority elite, Mr. Terkel had a profound empathy with the working class, the poor and the oppressed. He was an archtype of what I call the "Volvo liberal", the kind who can be found in the van of anti-poverty, anti-racism, anti-business, anti-government movements anywhere and everywhere in the USA. In the old days, he would have been targetted by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. Today he would be out there protesting against the Keystone pipeline, the "homophobic" Olympics, the G8 and the G20.

You may wonder, then, why Walt recommends that you read (or reread) The Great Divide: Second Thoughts on the American Dream. Walt is a social conservative and a political libertarian. [No kidding! Ed.] But it seems to me that ultra-liberals like Studs Terkel and libertarians like (say) Ron Paul, differ only in their approaches to the same problem. That problem is the plight of the working (and non-working) poor -- those at the bottom of the economic and social heap. That's what The Great Divide is all about.

Mr. Terkel's great gift was the ability to listen. The Great Divide is, like most of his books, a collection of stories of the lives of ordinary people, describing the America in which they lived. You'll hear, in their own words, the complaints and frustrations (but also the hopes and dreams) of farmers, welfare moms, bartenders, minimum wage earners, aimless young people, manual labourers and disillusioned teachers. Mr. Terkel hears and transcribes the voices of those struggling to just get by. He hears America talking.

The Great Divide was written in the mid-80s and published in 1988. Some of the movements and organizations mentioned have faded into obscurity. Who remembers the Sanctuary Movement, or the FLAG (Farmers Legal Action Group)? They've given up fighting against "the system". Now we have other, more sinister pressure groups on the right as well as the left.

Meanwhile, the poor -- as Our Lord told us would be the case -- are still with us. And there are more of them. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Lately it has become fashionable to talk about the Gini coefficient. [Indeed `tis the sole subject of talk down at t' pub. Ed.]

C'mon, pay attention! The Gini coefficient is a commonly used measure of inequality of income or wealth. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where everyone has an exactly equal income. [In our dreams! Ed.] A Gini coefficient of one expresses maximal inequality, for example where only one person has all the income. [In our office! Ed.] Here's a map that makes a telling point.

In 2008-9, the countries of the Dark Continent had the highest Gini coefficients, with South Africa the world's highest at 0.7. (The coming of "majority rule" in 1994 was supposed to fix that, but there you are.) In 2005, the global income inequality Gini coefficient -- for all human beings taken together -- was estimated at between 0.61 and 0.68. But forget the rest of the world and forget the numbers. Just take a look at the shade of colour in which the USA is painted, compared with the lighter shades for Australia, Britain, Canada and even Mongolia! Get the picture?

Walt's point is that in the quarter-century since the publication of The Great Divide, nothing has changed. Indeed, things -- including inequality of income -- have gotten worse.

Studs Terkel was inclined to blame the Republicans, and the policies of the Reagan era. But since then we've had the Republican Bushes (pater et filius) and the Democratic Clinton and Obama administrations (two of each, with another Clinton on the horizon), so let us not kid ourselves that either party has the answers.

"The system" is broken. Millions of Americans are in want, struggling not just to get by, but to survive! Some of them are the authors of their own misfortune, but Walt believes the majority are like the good people described in The Great Divide. They want better lives -- "better" meaning at least a modicum of security and freedom from hunger -- and have done their best to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, the way "the system" preaches.

Get a good education, get a good job, work hard, play by the rules, and you'll get your reward. Anyway -- including our political "leaders" -- who thinks this is true is not listening. At least, they're not listening with the empathetic ear of Studs Terkel. Read the book.

The Great Divide was published in 1988 by Pantheon Books, New York. Other worthwhile books by Studs Terkel include Division Street: America, Hard Times, Working, Talking To Myself, American Dreams: Lost and Found and The Good War (1985), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. "In American Dreams," said critic John Leonard, "Mr. Terkel, a superb editor as well as the ideal listener,...becomes Walt Whitman."