my point that some of the most resentful people in America right now seem to be angry billionaires.
We’ve seen this before. After the 2008 financial crisis, which was widely (and correctly) attributed in part to financial wheeling and dealing, you might have expected the erstwhile Masters of the Universe to show a bit of contrition, maybe even gratitude at having been bailed out. What we got instead was “Obama rage,” fury at the 44th president for even suggesting that Wall Street might have been partly to blame for the disaster.
These days there has been a lot of discussion of the hard right turn of some tech billionaires, from Elon Musk on down. I’d argue that we shouldn’t overthink it, and we especially shouldn’t try to say that this is somehow the fault of politically correct liberals. Basically it comes down to the pettiness of plutocrats who used to bask in public approval and are now discovering that all the money in the world can’t buy you love.
So is there a way out of the grim place we’re in? What I believe is that while resentment can put bad people in power, in the long run it can’t keep them there. At some point the public will realize that most politicians railing against elites actually are elites in every sense that matters and start to hold them accountable for their failure to deliver on their promises. And at that point the public may be willing to listen to people who don’t try to argue from authority, don’t make false promises, but do try to tell the truth as best they can.
我的觀點是，現在美國一些最怨恨的人似乎是憤怒的億萬富翁。
我們以前見過這個。 2008 年金融危機被廣泛（且正確地）歸因於金融操縱和交易，你可能會期望昔日的宇宙大師會表現出一點悔悟，甚至可能對獲得救助表示感激。相反，我們得到的是“奧巴馬的憤怒”，即對這位第 44 任總統的憤怒，因為他甚至暗示華爾街可能對這場災難負有部分責任。
這些天來，人們對一些科技億萬富翁（從埃隆·馬斯克（Elon Musk）開始）的右轉進行了很多討論。我認為我們不應該想太多，我們尤其不應該試圖說這是政治正確的自由主義者的錯。基本上，這可以歸結為富豪們的狹隘，他們曾經享受大眾的認可，現在卻發現全世界的錢都買不到愛情。
那麼有沒有辦法擺脫我們目前所處的嚴峻局面呢？我相信，雖然怨恨可以讓壞人掌權，但從長遠來看，它不能讓他們留在那裡。到了某個時候，公眾會意識到，大多數反對精英的政客實際上在各個方面都是精英，並開始追究他們未能兌現承諾的責任。到那時，公眾可能願意傾聽那些不試圖與權威爭論、不做出虛假承諾、而是盡力講述真相的人的聲音。We may never recover the kind of faith in our leaders — belief that people in power generally tell the truth and know what they’re doing — that we used to have. Nor should we. But if we stand up to the kakistocracy — rule by the worst — that’s emerging as we speak, we may eventually find our way back to a better world.
google 翻譯問題多，值得討論
我們可能永遠無法恢復我們過去對領導人的信心——相信當權者通常會說實話並知道自己在做什麼。我們也不應該。但如果我們勇敢地面對正在出現的惡人統治——最壞的統治，我們最終可能會找到回到更美好世界的方法。My Last Column: Finding Hope in an Age of Resentment
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