The Forgotten Man

In her history of the Great Depression, Amity Shlaes recalls a speech delivered by Yale professor William Graham Sumner in the winter of 1883. Sumner said, "As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X." Sumner called C, the man coerced into action on the part of X, the "Forgotten Man."

We are not shouting loud enough for our leaders to hear us yet. When we have endured enough pain to scream at the top of our lungs, when enough of us join in on the chorus, with amplitude, when they finally hear our calls, what will they do?

C has continued to be forgotten in the years since 1932, and is now more forgotten than ever. Marking his 100th day in office, President Obama briefly recalled the Cs of America, calling them the "folks waving tea bags around." That's more than they got on April 15, when the White House said Obama was "unaware" of anti-spending demonstrations across the nation.