I Used to Like You Until...: (How Binary Thinking Divides Us)

by Kat Timpf

Here’s another stat that should grind your taxpaying gears: A New York Times analysis published in September 2022 “found that 97 lawmakers or their family members bought or sold financial assets over a three-year span in industries that could be affected by their legislative committee work.” As Daily Beast journalist Matt K. Lewis, author of Filthy Rich Politicians: The Swamp Creatures, Latte Liberals, and Ruling-Class Elites Cashing in on America, told the Guardian: “Rich people get elected, and people, when elected, tend to get richer. Over time, it has gotten worse… I think it’s just an irony that I wrote the book Filthy Rich Politicians in a moment when all the politicians in America… one thing almost all have in common is trying to position themselves as being populist outsiders attacking elites,” he said. It’s ironic. It’s absurd. And it’s everywhere.