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For some people that is just the reality. They don't have the family background, connections, money, time or resources to white-knuckle their way into the elite. If they get involved in politics, they may become relatively important at a local level. Much less chance they'll be important nationally, and replicating Obama's success at "I went from the log cabin to the White House" is impossible. As it was for Obama, he most certainly was not from the log cabin background, and it's probably important to note that the first African-American president wasn't the typical, even upper-class, African-American.
They can do well, of course, which is what urquan is saying. But unless they're unusually talented, they are not going to be the next Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, to take examples. They're not going to get into the Ivies, they are not going to be hob-nobbing with the movers and shakers except on a local level, and that's perfectly fine because you don't have to agonise over being one of the 1% or 10% to have a good life.
Wanting to be rich and famous, when there isn't a realistic chance of that, is just going to make you unhappy. How many complaints do we see of the "I was told 'just be yourself' and that would get me a girlfriend, this was all lies" type? We'll see the same over "I was told 'you can be anything' but that was all lies" if you sell your ordinary kid the American Dream of being extraordinary. The American Dream is "you can make it", but it's "even a poor serf or peasant like you from the Old Country can make it, because the circumstances holding you down there don't apply here". It wasn't "Marco Abramohvic can be president fresh off the boat", it was "Marco Abramohvic, fresh off the boat, can work his way up to owning his own small shop selling cheese without being taxed out the door by the local squire, duke, or pogrom".
Now if Marco establishes a cheese empire, maybe his grand-kids who have changed their name to Abrams can get into the Ivies and be part of the elite, because rising up into the gentry class is a thing that happens. But if they're still Abramohvic with the small cheese shop, no. That's the reality that urquan is talking about. And it's not a bad life, either.
What is bad is the messaging that unless you scrabble your way into the elite, you are a loser in life, even if you have a normal, ordinary, decent life. That's harmful. If you don't go to Harvard, you are missing out! In fact, you are being denied! Discriminated against! It is your right to go to Harvard! Well, are you good enough to go to Harvard in the first place? If you are, and you are being hampered by deliberate obstacles set in your path, then go ahead and fight for your rights, and I'll support you. But if the answer is no, I'm smaller university if university at all level, then you are not being denied anything and the life you can get is not a bad life.
RDS is a national level politician and he came from a blue collar background.
DeSantis claims to have a working class background, but as far as I can tell it's largely fictional. His parents were more-or-less working-class, but he went straight from high school to Yale, was briefly a teacher, and then went to Harvard Law School. He then into the US Navy as an officer. DeSantis himself has never had a blue-collar job.
There's a point where "my father once had a job where he worked with his hands" doesn't count for that much.
Being born to a working class family is a working class background no matter how many scholarships you get.
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Huh? I’m not disputing that RDS went to Yale and Harvard. I’m saying he didn’t grow up elite which is what OP suggested.
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