I think the real problem is that we have rigged our the nominally democratic but mostly capitalist system to favor wealth accumulation above all else, and have

I think the real problem is that we have rigged our the nominally democratic but mostly capitalist system to favor wealth accumulation above all else, and have given most people a crappy deal: provide some incentives (in the tax code and local laws) for most people to use their home as their primary wealth repository as long as they don't make a peep about the essentially untaxed wealth of rich people and corporations. Taxing income instead of wealth (except for homes, which is most of us) is really the way modern society is broken, and until we address it we will continue to pull away from each other.