Fiefs

As a history major I tend to connect the past and the present more than your average Joe Six-pack (sorry, I had to do it in light of recent election soundbites). I work on the border of a fairly well-off WASP portion of St. Louis, between Des Peres and Ballwin; I go to school in the area of Town and Country (does it not scream old money?) and am currently doing an internship at the St. Louis County Headquarters located on Lindbergh directly across from the Frontenac Mall, which is well, the old money Pantheon.
Of course, I'm coming from Collinsville, IL which is the home of well, murder and a giant catsup (yes, it says catsup - I looked). So I do a lot of travelling and in my travels - from work to school to internship - I see a lot of nice houses and I see these nice houses set beside much smaller houses. So, every two or three houses is a small palace and the inbetween is either a buffer state between rich and rich or they are fiefs, which is the title of this blog and also my theory.
I think feudalism just disappeared from the mainstream but is still very much alive. The 'peasants' may call themselves middle-class (everyone does, probably even Michael Bloomberg) but they are probably the help of some kind for their much larger neighbor. In return their kids go to a slightly better school because the property tax of their neighbors house is the equivalent of the GDP of a third world country. Or, these houses are inhabited by illegals so their kids may not go to school at all, or they may not have any kids. Unlike feudalism of old, you aren't provided the quality protection that comes with servitude. It used to be that you depended on and only had to worry about the big guy next door, but now we have to worry about the scary world and the big guy next door will be just as quick to set the hounds on you as he/she would be to set them on someone else's peasant.

Blogged with the Flock Browser