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Whatever its findings, that the mainstream Pew Research Center would frame the report in the usually verboten language of "class conflict" is itself remarkable. Whenever verbiage such as "class" or "class struggle," let alone "class conflict" is used by academics or politicians to describe the incongruity between democracy and capitalism, it is rejected as Marxist ideological rant.
Even the avoidance of the use of "working class" for the more centrist "middle class" by President Obama led to the farcical cry of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum that Obama was encouraging class warfare.
This is hardly surprising, for when Obama attempted to raise taxes on the wealthy for the benefit of the larger populace, he was charged with encouraging class warfare rather than attempting a more equitable distribution of wealth. Although the concept of a fair distribution of assets is democratic, not Marxist, in thrust, and the 1 percent have been waging a rigged undeclared war against the 99 percent for decades, now that the 99 percent have begun pushing back, there is an inevitable cry of foul from the reactionary rich.
