Somehow I managed to miss this important article when it was first posted last November, but it was brought to my attention today by being posted currently in Uncommon Thought Journal.
Unlike many other apparently middle class writers like David Malone whose limited vision can only see the decline of middle class life and the associated loss of "democracy", Street is fully aware of working class history and the ubiquitous myths about the existence of "democracy" in Western nations. Street brilliantly focuses on the use of racism by the US ruling capitalist class to obscure the powerlessness, poverty, and exploitation of working people in America throughout its history. Now under neoliberalism the US middle class, which enjoyed many advantages in the past, is beginning to feel what working people have always experienced. He sees another indication of this with recently released data:
...some remarkable data reported across major U.S, media earlier this November. “Something startling is happening to middle-aged white Americans,” The New York Times noted: “Unlike every other age group, unlike every other racial and ethnic group, unlike their counterparts in other rich countries, death rates in this group have been rising, not falling.”