The War on Achievement and the Building Backlash

Unlike any other country in the history of the world, the United States was founded on the ideal of unfettered social and economic mobility. For most of its history, social norms and government policies have been put in place to maximize opportunity in preference to minimizing risks. In fact, today's "social safety net" was a foreign idea, imported from Europe about 80 years ago. Nevertheless, there is a growing perception that America's long-venerated "opportunity society" is being undermined in an effort to build a cradle-to-grave "nanny state." Is this perception ac.....