I think that last sentence is spot on. It's an extension of the American Dream: "those who deserve reward will be rewarded." The problem is that many people als

I think that last sentence is spot on. It's an extension of the American Dream: "those who deserve reward will be rewarded." The problem is that many people also believe its insidious contrapositive: "those who are punished are deserving of punishment." This leads to a constant reinforcement of the status quo.