A middle-class society is one where ordinary work creates a real path to ownership. A useful education should lead to a job that pays enough to buy a home and save, leaving room to absorb a setback or take a risk. That is how wages become agency, and how families acquire a durable stake in the country.
Liberal democracy depends on the accessibility of that stake. Citizens who can see themselves advancing have reason to build institutions and accept obligations to the people around them. But when work no longer offers a plausible route upward, the material basis of citizenship begins to erode.
