Sad, But True

Peggy Noonan has an article about manners in our Gilded Age. Her point is that though we are a country of enormous wealth, we have hideous manners. I think she nails it. Here is a keen observation:

There are good things and bad in the Gilded Age, pluses and minuses. I write here of a minus. It has to do with our manners, the ones we show each other on the street. I think riches, or the pursuit of riches, has made us ruder. You'd think broad comfort would assuage certain hungers. It has not. It has sharpened them.

It is a thoughtful look at something that was creeping up on us, but is now getting a bit more obvious. Take the time to read the whole thing.