You call that hard work? This is hard work.

The Tea party's response to the Occupy Wall Street protests has been a series of people like this. They call themselves the 53% and confuse even our benevolent overlords, the 1%:

I have spent far more hours than I should have these last few weeks puzzling over the postings on that website, trying to understand who these people are and why they would possibly care about my taxes.

This has been a curiosity for me as well. Why the hell do some people engage in this sort of "look at my handwriting!" brand of identity politics, particularly the ones whose would say "the system served me well enough." That seems like a bystander attitude which instead is modulated into shut up superiority. Stienbeck's quote hits on it, but it doesn't quite solve the mystery of the 53%. "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." Belief in the American Dream accounts for some of this, but clearly there is a substantial external force operating. Is it the desire to to outdo the Chinese? Grassroots efforts funded by the Koch brothers?

At this point it is evident Australians are flooding the country at record numbers. Anyone posting something along the lines of "I work very hard so you should shut up and work harder," is actually a tax paying Australian. They have a level of pride in their grit that generally surpasses its utility. It's not well-meaning American dreaming, it's poisonous insects everywhere (PIE) mentality. What gave them away? They lack the commitment to democratic pluralism that would allow them to pass as regular ol' Americans. I'm on to you guys.

I can't say I dislike anyone who is willing to work harder for less. It makes the job easier for anyone with authority over them. It's also crucially important to have fighters in a country with a voluntary armed service; were they not so willing to suffer, they would drive up recruitment costs and we'd all pay more. Positively altruistic, those PIE eating Australians.

For the rest of the ...quoi?/self-parody punchlines of the 53% response read the rest of the article I quoted at the top.