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Here's a question we should all be asking:

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What went wrong?

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Not just with the pandemic,

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but with our civic life.

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What brought us to this polarized,

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rancorous political moment?

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In recent decades,

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the divide between winners and losers
had been deepening,

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poisoning our politics,

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setting us apart.

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This divide is partly about inequality.

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But it's also about the attitudes
toward winning and losing

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that have come with it.

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Those who landed on top

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came to believe that their success
was their own doing.

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A measure of their merit.

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And that those who lost out

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had no one to blame but themselves.

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This way of thinking about success

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arises from a seemingly
attractive principle.

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If everyone has an equal chance,

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the winners deserve their winnings.

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This is the heart
of the meritocratic ideal.

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In practice, of course,

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we fall far short.

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Not everybody has an equal chance to rise.

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Children born to poor families

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tend to stay poor when they grow up.

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Affluent parents are able to pass
their advantages onto their kids.

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At Ivy League universities, for example,

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there are more students
from the top one percent

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than from the entire bottom half
of the country combined.

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But the problem isn't only
that we fail to live up

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to the meritocratic
principles we proclaim.

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The ideal itself is flawed.

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It has a dark side.

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Meritocracy is corrosive
of the common good.

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It leads to hubris among the winners,

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and humiliation among those who lose out.

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It encourages the successful
to inhale too deeply of their success,

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to forget the luck and good fortune
that helped them on their way.

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And it leads them to look down
on those less fortunate,

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less credentialed than themselves.

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This matters for politics.

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One of the most potent sources
of the populous backlash

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is the sense among many working people

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that elites look down on them.

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It's a legitimate complaint.

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Even as globalization
brought deepening inequality

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and stagnant wages,

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its proponents offered workers
some bracing advice.

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If you want to compete and win
in the global economy,

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go to college.

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What you earn depends on what you learn.

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You can make it if you try.

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These elites miss the insult
implicit in this advice.

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If you don't go to college,

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if you don't flourish in the new economy,

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your failure is your fault.

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That's the implication.

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It's no wonder many working people

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turned against meritocratic elites.

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So what should we do?

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We need to rethink three aspects
of our civic life.

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The role of college,

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the dignity of work,

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and the meaning of success.

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We should begin by rethinking
the role of universities

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as arbiters of opportunity.

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For those of us who spend our days
in the company of the credentialed,

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it's easy to forget a simple fact.

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Most people don't have
a four-year college degree.

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In fact, nearly two thirds
of Americans don't.

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So it is folly to create an economy

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that makes a university diploma
a necessary condition

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of dignified work and a decent life.

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Encouraging people to go to college

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is a good thing.

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Broadening access
for those who can't afford it

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is even better.

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But this is not a solution to inequality.

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We should focus less on arming people

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for meritocratic combat,

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and focus more on making life better

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for people who lack a diploma,

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but who make essential
contributions to our society.

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We should renew the dignity of work

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and place it at the center
of our politics.

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We should remember that work
is not only about making a living,

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it's also about contributing
to the common good

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and winning recognition for doing so.

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Robert F. Kennedy put it well
half a century ago.

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Fellowship, community, shared patriotism.

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These essential values do not come

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from just buying and consuming
goods together.

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They come from dignified employment,

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at decent pay.

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The kind of employment
that enables us to say

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"I helped to build this country."

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"I am a participant
in its great public ventures."

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This civic sentiment

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is largely missing
from our public life today.

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We often assume

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that the money people make

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is the measure of their contribution
to the common good.

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But this is a mistake.

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Martin Luther King Jr. explained why.

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Reflecting on a strike
by sanitation workers

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in Memphis, Tennessee,

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shortly before he was assassinated.

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King said,

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"The person who picks up our garbage
is, in the final analysis,

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as significant as the physician,

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for if he doesn't do his job,

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diseases are rampant.

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All labor has dignity."

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Today's pandemic makes this clear.

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It reveals how deeply we rely

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on workers we often overlook.

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Delivery workers,

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maintenance workers,

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grocery store clerks,

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warehouse workers,

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truckers,

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nurse assistants,

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childcare workers,

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home health care providers.

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These are not the best paid
or most honored workers.

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But now, we see them as essential workers.

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This is a moment for a public debate

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about how to bring their pay
and recognition

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into better alignment

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with the importance of their work.

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It is also time

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for a moral, even spiritual turning,

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questioning our meritocratic hubris.

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Do I morally deserve the talents
that enable me to flourish?

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Is it my doing

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that I live in a society
that prizes the talents

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I happen to have?

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Or is that my good luck?

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Insisting that my success is my due

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makes it hard to see myself
in other people's shoes.

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Appreciating the role of luck in life

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can prompt a certain humility.

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There but for the accident of birth

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or the grace of God,

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or the mystery of faith,

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go I.

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This spirit of humility

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is the civic virtue we need now.

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It's the beginning of a way back

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from the harsh ethic of success
that drives us apart.

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It points us beyond the tyranny of merit

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to a less rancorous,
more generous public life.