America: Where The Poor Often Stay That Way

Frum notes that class mobility in the US is not what it is sometimes imagined to be:

This is not an argument in favor of the European way of doing things. I agree with Lowry and Ponnuru – and Charles Murray too – that American freedom and individualism are important national values to be celebrated and defended.

But let's not flatter ourselves: Those values exact a social cost –and they would be easier to defend if the cost were less high. And thefact that this cost is not being paid by my...