America was settled by the common man. In the old world, wealth came from the land, and the land was owned by the aristocracy. In the New World, land was free (you only had to take it from the Indians). It was untouched, rich, and profitably exploited by slave labor.

In America, the aristocracy did not have the right to own land, those who owned land WERE the new aristocracy. And if it wasn't land, it was commerce and industry.

As long as the land was free, or new sources of wealth were opened up by the technology of the Industrial Age, the factories and railroads, the system continued to grow. Even the wage slaves brought over from Southern and Eastern Europe to replace the Africans had a chance to get a piece of the action. Many of them succeeded.

But when the frontier closed, around 1900, the population continued growing but the wealth suddenly became finite. Momentum carried us into the mid 20th century, about a lifetime, but ever since, that old continent of limitless resources and cheap labor finally dried up, and the boom times are now just a happy memory, a nostalgia for a paradise that never quite materialized in the first place. For a while, it seemed our overseas commercial empire would make up the difference, but we are now bumping into foreign competition, the Euros, the Russians, the Asians

The new aristocracy doesn't want to share, and they're not honoring any of their old promises either. And those who have been patiently waiting to step up and claim their share are now being squeezed out. And they're just starting to realize this is as far as they, or their children, are going to get. In fact, they can sense they are starting to slide back. People may think they remember those 'good ole days', but their parents lived them, and all they remember was hard times and broken promises. I'll be the first to admit, I've lived very well, but my parents worked their ass off for very little return. And the children of my generation will never, ever have the advantages I did.

That's why they're pissed off, and desperate for someone to blame it on. And that's why the 'middle classes' are so seduced by fascism. They figure its their last chance to get what they were promised.