We Americans know that if we fall, then we will get up ourselves or be trampled. The absolute certainty of this leads to an existential fear that overpowers everything else.
The office holders themselves may be the very people who suffer most from this fear. All the statements about opportunity and shining hill cities and all that bunk is simply the end result of massive denial of the festering, gnawing fear at the center of everything.
Any issue can be analyzed from this perspective.