I wanted to share something I've been thinking about.

One way to refer to it would be "having it all."

Start with a basic question. What are the most basic forms of social prestige or recognition, in our modern world?

Money, of course, would have to be one, and depending on your way of analyzing modern society, it could well be the only one. I'm not persuaded, however, that everything is sociologically reducible to money. For example, power (i.e. political or institutional power, which is ultimately based on fear) would be another key form of social prestige, one that historically tracks with money but can diverge from its orbit in certain circumstances.

And then we have what Aretha Franklin would call R-E-S-P-E-C-T. One can be loved, praised, honored, etc., while not having much in the way of money or power. Gaining the respect of others is for many a highly prized aspect of social life. One could, I suppose, call respect a form of "social capital," but it seems to me that respect is a larger category, as social capital is usually described as an ability to convert the social network of relationships into money, much in the way Donald Trump could emerge unscathed from his many bankruptcies.

Okay, so that's my idea. Social life revolves around the possession or loss of Money, Power, and Respect. And here's my little sociological thesis: it's tough, very tough, to have all three in abundance.

Part of what got me thinking about this is the recent release of Hillary's and Bernie's tax returns. While no one would say that Bernie's income is inadequate, it pales in comparison to the eye-popping .1% income of the Clintons, where a single, one-hour speech netted Hillary more income than what Bernie made over the whole year.

Clearly, Hillary Clinton has money--a lot of it. Clearly, she has power--she is at the very center of the Washington political establishment. But does she have respect? I suppose one can argue that the votes she has racked up thus far and "most admired woman" polls may show that, but at the same time her unfavorability ratings, which are hovering in the mid-50s, are historically bad for a presidential candidate. I am sure Hillary can always find a group of people who will applaud her and say nice things about her. But then there's this:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5MK8yQV_kE]

Here's the thing. I think a lot of those Third Way/DLC types want to "have it all," and while they've grabbed the Money and the Power, the Respect has never quite stuck. That image of HRC's motorcade showered with dollar bills is just devastating, because it is a true image of the nature of her campaign and indeed of her political career. It's one thing for a politician to screw over the people he or she governs, but it is something else for that politician to do that and to demand your everlasting respect as well. The breathless repetition of Hillary's "fighting" for this or that group of everyday people is, at the root, a demand for respect. The endless search by Hillary supporters for statements to be offended by is also driven by a suspicion of insufficient respect. But is it, in the end, possible to be fantastically rich AND powerful AND respected? I wouldn't say it is an empty category (FDR?), but it would seem to be vanishingly small.

As for Bernie, he hasn't cashed in on his years in Washington, as he could have done many times over. He's not starving by any means, but he did pass up on the BIG money, making him, as he put it, "one of the poorer members of the United States Senate." And the end result is this:

RESPECT.