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Civil service is another great American reform that in the last 50 years has become a great American moat, protecting incompetent or corrupt workers,
公務員制度是在過去50年里成為了美國的巨型護城河，保護著那些不稱職或腐敗的勞動者，
like those who supervised the Veterans Affairs hospitals where patient waiting lists were found to have been falsified.
比如管理候診名單被發現存在造假現象的榮民醫院的人的另一項偉大改革。
On the other side are the unprotected many.
另一頭是未被保護的多數群體。
They may be independent and hardworking,
他們或許也很勤奮獨立，
but they look to their government to preserve their way of life and maybe even improve it.
但他們還是要依靠政府來維持甚至改善他們的生活水平。
The unprotected need the government to provide good public schools so that their children have a chance to advance.
他們需要政府提供良好的公立學校，這樣，他們的孩子才有機會進步。
They need a level competitive playing field for their small businesses,
他們需要一個讓自己的小本生意也能公平競爭的環境，
a fair shake in consumer disputes and a realistic shot at justice in the courts.
需要陷入消費者糾紛時能夠得到公平待遇，在法庭上能得到公正的審判。
They need the government to provide a safety net to ensure that their families have access to good health care,
他們還需要政府提供一個安全網，確保他們的家庭有機會享受良好的醫療保健服務，
that no one goes hungry when shifts in the economy or temporary setbacks take away their jobs
確保經濟變化或暫時的挫折奪走他們的工作時他們的家人不會挨餓，
and that they get help to rebuild after a hurricane or other disaster.
確保颶風或其他災難襲擊后重建家園時他們能得到幫助。
They need the government to ensure a safe workplace and a living minimum wage.
他們也需要政府保障他們擁有安全的工作環境和保底工資。
They need mass-transit systems that work and call centers at Social Security offices that don't produce busy signals.
需要運轉良好的公共交通系統，以及不會提示“坐席忙”的社保局客服中心。
They need the government to keep the political system fair and protect it from domination by those who can give politicians the most money.
他們需要政府維持政治體系的公平，保護它不被那些能給政客們出價最高的人玩弄于鼓掌。
They need the government to provide fair labor laws
他們還需要政府提供公平的勞動法，
and to promote an economy and a tax code
促進經濟和稅法的發展
that tempers the extremes of income inequality and makes economic opportunity more than an empty cliché.
緩和收入不平等的極端化問題，使經濟機會不再是一句空洞的套話。
The protected need few of these common goods.
而受到保護的那群人幾乎是不需要這些公共利益的。
They don't have to worry about under-performing public schools, dilapidated mass-transit systems or jammed Social Security hotlines.
公立學校表現欠佳、公共交通系統過于破舊或社保熱線總是占線，這些問題他們都無需擔心。
They have accountants and lawyers who can negotiate their employment contracts or deal with consumer disputes, assuming they want to bother.
因為他們有會計師和律師幫他們談雇傭合同，處理消費者糾紛，如果他們愿意費這個神的話。
They see labor or consumer-protection laws, and fair tax codes, as threats to their winnings—
勞工或消費者保護法，以及公平的稅法在他們眼里都是威脅他們的戰利品的存在——
which they have spent the last 50 years consolidating by eroding these common goods and the government that would provide them.
過去50年里，他們也一直在使用侵蝕這些公共利益和提供這些利益的政府等手段鞏固他們的戰利品。
That, rather than a split between Democrats and Republicans, is the real polarization that has broken America since the 1960s.
這一分裂不是民共兩黨的分裂，而是自20世紀60年代以來搞垮美國的，真正的兩極分化。
It's the protected vs. the unprotected, the common good vs. maximizing and protecting the elite winners' winnings.
是受到保護的群體與未被保護的群體之間的兩極分化，是公共利益與最大化精英贏家們的戰利品并捍衛這些戰利品之間的兩極分化。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
