We're in that weird in-between period where the land of equal opportunity is quickly slipping away, but people still believe it exists.
It's no different from a caste system or any other class system that justifies our lot in life as deserved. It just has its own uniquely American flavor to it that is based on America's own fundamentalist religion (individuality and the belief in equal opportunity for all). The fundamentalist belief that America "is fair to all" can't be broken, so we develop rationalizations to bridge the gap between expectations and reality.
