The parties have backed into America’s most urgent domestic priority: resisting the development of a class-based society in which birth equals destiny. This division runs like an ugly, concrete wall across the American ideal.Put that way, of course Gerson is correct. Being "born on the right side of the wall" says individual talent and hard work mean little. Responding to Gerson, Mirengoff writes:
On one side are the wealthy and educated, living in communities characterized by greater family stability, economic opportunity and neighborhood cohesion. On the other side is the working class, living in communities featuring economic stagnation, family instability and neighborhood breakdown.
The best advice for success? Be born on the right side of the wall. That is not a very American-sounding answer.
Why isn’t the best advice for success to behave the way those on the right side of the wall tend to? In other words, take education seriously; don’t have children when you are still a child; don’t commit crimes; don’t abuse hard drugs; get married before having children; and once married, try hard to stay married.As conservatives, we must agree with Mirengoff. We believe individuals are responsible for their own outcomes, not the pawns of vast, impersonal societal forces as liberals claim.
What is the evidence that those on born on the wrong side of the wall but follow this advice are unlikely to succeed? What is the evidence that those born on the right side of the wall but ignore the advice are likely to?
There is plenty of evidence that many Asian migrants to the U.S. do what Mirengoff advocates, even when mired in poverty and culture shock. And it works for them too; they don't stay poor or spend half their lives in prison.
The difference is culture, an unattractive truth. Some cultures demonstrably produce better life outcomes than others.
