The End of the Yuppie Dream

A buff, working-class white man wearing a plaid button-down shirt and large black shades pokes around a convenience store. He hears a dry, monotonous voice emanating from a television set perched on the wall.“It’s a new morning in America—fresh, vital,” the voice declares.The working-class shopper looks up to see a besuited, skeletal, extraterrestrial figure—a politician, it seems—delivering a speech on the TV.“The old cynicism is gone,” the alien politician insists. “We have faith in our leader...