Bread and Circuses

Ancient Rome reached a point where poor people greatly outnumbered the rich, so the nervous authorities began to distribute grain and stage chariot races and entertaining gladiator fights and so on. The poet Juvenal famously called these precautions "bread and circuses." Food prices were regulated and kept low. And it worked. The poor did not get hungry and attack the rich.

America has a related problem today. People are employed, but wages are low.  Getting new glasses or getting your teeth pulled can be unaffordable. The rich outlive the poor, on average, by 14 years. Meanwhile knuckleheads like President Spanky (who inherited hundreds of millions) flourish. The Republican response has been an attempt to punish people for being poor. Republicans want to cut entitlements. That is guaranteed to irritate a majority of people. 

The party that works hard to provide health care, to raise the minimum wage and to keep bread cheap will have an edge.