<em>"The point is there's a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss  between the people who have stuff, and the people who don't have shit.  It's like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand  Canyon, and what's come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage  creates violence, and the violence is real."</em>
<strong>-- Lawrence Kasdan's "Grand Canyon," 1991</strong>

Most of my conservative friends hate this movie.

It probably wasn't as good as it could have been -- it's a little too heavy-handed in making the point it wants to make -- but it had something important to say about America at the end of 12 years of Reagan and Bush, and the problem it addresses is one that has only gotten worse in the 20 years since it was released.

I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, and I remember reading that L.A. was one of the most prominent places in the world where you could see fabulous wealth and grinding, almost third-world poverty within just a few blocks of each other. There are hundreds of thousands of people in that second category who will never be able to escape it, no matter how hard they work or how closely they follow the rules.

In fact, although I think some of the rage is misplaced, we're seeing some of the same anger now from the Tea Party crowd. They too played by the rules only to find that they just aren't making it anymore. Their rage is directly not only at the folks above them, but also at the ones below them that they feel are getting special treatment.

In that respect, we have reached a point where America doesn't make sense anymore. It was one thing when there was a small number of people at the top and a larger -- but still comparatively small -- group at the bottom, largely overwhelmed by a large middle class that was living the American Dream.

<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-903" title="grand_canyon_ver2" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand_canyon_ver2-219x300.jpg" alt="" width="219" height="300" /></a>But now the middle class is dying as fewer and fewer good jobs seem to be available every year, and as families sink deeper and deeper into debt trying just to maintain their lifestyle.

And people who don't live in places like Los Angeles or New York never really see the lifestyle some of the worst plutocrats live. Heck, it isn't just that they can't see it. For the most part, they can't even comprehend it. If you live in Los Angeles, though, you can pass by a 200-room mansion in Bel Air or Beverly Hills and with 10 minutes see a man holding a sign that says he'll work for food at a freeway exit.

<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-904" title="T505" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/grand-canyon-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>It's an ever-widening chasm, and if it isn't checked in some way, it'll probably be the end of any last remnant of American exceptionalism. If we don't have a large, thriving middle class, we'll end up being just another Third World oligarchy.

One problem we have in this country is there are too many people who have never been anywhere else. They have no idea how people live in other parts of the world, so when they listen to the people telling them how good they have it,  they can't tell the truth from the lies. I've actually heard people say -- in trying to downplay the homeless problem -- that homeless people in our country live as well as middle-class folks in Europe.

The sad truth is, I'm not sure middle-class families in this country live as well as middle-class families in Europe.

Most of those families have 4-5 weeks a year of paid vacation, they have paid health insurance and they've got their retirement reasonably well provided for.

Yes, they drive smaller cars.

Yes, they often live in smaller houses or even apartments.

But for all that, no our bigger houses, our larger cars and our massive flat-screen televisions actually make us happier? During World War II, the gap between the wages of the average worker and a CEO in this country was about 14-1. It really was a question of the well-to-do living a better lifestyle, although still an understandable one. The last time I looked, the gap was about 300-1.

Somebody who makes 300 times as much money as the average worker has no comprehension of how real people live.

And that's the real problem. We've reached a point where the folks at the top and in the middle can't understand each other anymore. There is no longer a feeling of us all being in it together.

That kind of gap makes the Grand Canyon look small.