The important thing I try to always remember is that it's the 'middle' class, not the center class. Civilization can't survive with mostly middle management and mechanics - somebody has to actually do something at some point, rather than designing something, directing something, or fixing something. The middle class is a buffer between the bulk of people who work with their bodies, and the tiny number of people who try to maximize the ratio of those people's output vs. their compensation.
The middle class has never characterized America, it's just the class that writes all of the characterizations.
The important thing I try to always remember is that it's the 'middle' class, not the center class. Civilization can't survive with mostly middle management and mechanics - somebody has to actually do something at some point, rather than designing something, directing something, or fixing something. The middle class is a buffer between the bulk of people who work with their bodies, and the tiny number of people who try to maximize the ratio of those people's output vs. their compensation.
The middle class has never characterized America, it's just the class that writes all of the characterizations.