A generation ago, the middle class in America had a significant influence on the political and cultural direction of the country. Now we are seeing greater polarization of incomes and a large cultural disconnect.

At the top end are wealthy people who are making policy and driving culture. They live in upscale locations on the West Coast and East Coast. They include the political elite and the media elite. Those in government pass laws or implement policies that don’t really affect them. The laws they write or administrate on issues ranging from medical policy to immigration have a significant impact on the general population. These policies really don’t affect them adversely. They have enough money to get the doctors and hospitals they need. They live in gated communities unaffected by poverty or changes in immigration laws.

At the other end are the poor or the working poor. They try to make ends meet, and most of them are dependent upon federal entitlement programs. These range from welfare to student loan programs. Any change in any government policy affects them much more than it affects the wealthy in America. The poor and the working poor live in communities that usually are deteriorating and have to deal with crime.

Victor Davis Hanson explains in many of his columns that California provides a view of what America might look like in the future. The golden state has become two cultures. “The coastal elites champion wind and solar mandates, transgender restrooms in the public schools, gay marriage, and high-speed rail. In the interior, rarely visited by the elites or the journalists friendly to them, the preponderance of poorer and minority residents largely explains why of all the states, California has the largest number of welfare recipients and the highest percentage of the population before the poverty line, and why it is nearly dead last in public-school performance.”

California is a picture of America’s future unless there are major political and cultural changes. The country is becoming two disconnected cultures.