For the last 40 years we have had a two tier regulation.

The elites have gotten a Libertarianism style deregulation, and everyone else, especially the poor & minorities, have gotten Broken Windows policing.

All supported by both parties

(1/N)

While the poor are subjected to increased police scrutiny, under theory that individual liberty is collectively corrosive, elites are subjected to almost no scrutiny, under theory that individual liberty, especially when applied to businesses, is collectively beneficial (2/N)

The spaces elites occupy (Finance, Tech, Big Business, etc) have been massively de-regulated, with the government taking a hands off approach

But the spaces the poor occupy (cities, poorer neighborhoods) have seen a huge uptick in government & state involvement (3/N)

Take NYC. Under Giuliani & Bloomberg as mayor, & Clinton, Bush, & Obama as president, it became "livable" again

Well for bankers & lawyers

Wall street pay took off because deregulation & the streets became safe from the dirty plebes because of over aggressive policing (4/N)

While UES/Tribeca/SoHo boomed, Bronx, East NY, Harlem effectively became police states. Occupied zones flooded with rookie cops

Residents personal freedom was routinely violated by police throwing out nuisance tickets like candy & stopping & frisking just to stop & frisk (5/N)

People are not dumb. They know an unfair system when they see it. They might not express it as, "Libertarianism for thee, and authoritarianism for me", but they know they are being screwed over while the elites are not.

(6/N)

I allude to this at the Cultural level in my last piece. Elites scold the culture of the poor, for among other things, embracing a destructive individualism.

But elites themselves embrace a destructive individualism in their work & policy (7/N) https://americancompass.org/what-about-the-rotten-culture-of-the-rich/

PS: Guess which esteemed publication ran the original Broken Windows Essay? The one that got all the very important people to side with really screwing over the poor? https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/