Middle Class (social class): Have we (Americans) just become a nation of whiners? And in  what way has this impacted our political culture?

I'm not sure that the term "whiners" is accurate. I think that we are inadvertently raising several generations of entitled Americans. I saw this from raising my family where all the kids get an award, "A" for effort  or the trophy for participating. This is definitely a generational difference compared to when the trophies went to those that finished at the top and A's were given much less frequently. It often seems now that competition is viewed negatively. Everyone deserves to be a winner. This is a by-product of our thought leaders in education and parenting telling us that developing strong self-esteem in a child should be an integral part of home and school. As a result, many grow up thinking that they are great, when in fact they are not. I used to think that they would hit the proverbial wall in college but times have changed there also. Now colleges have big time grade inflation. My father was a college professor. In the 1960's and 70's, universities typically graded on a curve. And it approximated a bell shaped curve. Not many students got A's and a there were definitely F's.  Now getting a C in college is like a failing grade, when before it was truly average and considered not too bad. Today, professors get graded by the students, and hard graders get poor teaching evaluations and more difficulty getting promoted. So the professors say, "why bother?" and give out A's and B's. So we seem to be graduating a generation that doesn't really understand what it's like to compete. I know that I'm generalizing and all of you Quorans working in the tech business aren't going to relate to this. But I don't work in the tech field and I speak to a lot of business managers/owners in non-tech fields and for many kids graduating from college, it's tough to get a job and hard to keep a job. Many of them don't have skills. They don't understand that for every 3 hires, 2 of them aren't going to be working at the same company in 3 years. For hiring managers, selecting who to hire is harder because there isn't any separation in the graduates. All of them have great grades and graduate at or near the top of their class. There's no meaningful curve and little separation. And many of the new grads haven't graduated with skills that prepare them for the workplace. As a result of the self-esteem movement, we've created a generation or two of more "entitled" Americans who feel that they deserve a certain kind of job, with long term security, with a certain kind of salary, and certain benefits. And these kinds of jobs exist more in the public than the private sector. And I think this affects the political affiliation of young working Americans.

No, as we cannot categorize everyone into one group.  There are many hard-working American citizens who realize that life is not supposed to be easy. However, we do live in an Anti-hero Era.  We rely on systems we have created that only tend to try to solve problems with the same thinking that created them in the first place. Relying on these systems only allows for the spread of learned helplessness, that one individual cannot change the course of history for one nation.  One person can change the course of history.  Superheroes do not always wear capes.

We are a nation of 'whiners'. Yes, we are. Are politicians acting out the 'terrible twos' on CSPAN for personal gain? Probably, not. It's likely that their immaturity and impulsivity relate to the same root problem. No one develops a lack of responsibility. Responsibility is learned as children mature. US children are not developing responsibility, because they are not in an environment where maturity is common. To become an adult a kid needs an idea of what an adult is like. Kids need to know: What does an adult do? What does an adult say? How does an adult behave? Adults are not answering these questions. Kids are getting the answers from television and the internet. They have every right to whine. Before they demonstrate responsibility they need to know they are expected to act responsible. I don't watch TV for my own protection, but the adults I recall emphasized punch lines. Growing up in America, trying to find a role model is frustrated by a dearth of responsible adult behavior.

Everything has a yin and a yang.  We are the people on earth most likely to return someone's unattended wallet.  However, we are also probably the most likely to demand a paycheck for playing Guitar Hero.  There is good and there is bad.  It's partly generational.  Americans before Generation X were less like that.  We are, of course, speaking in generalizations.  Averages. http://www.amazon.com/The-Fourth-Turning-American-Rendezvous/dp/0767900464/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359594801&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=Strauss%2C+W.+and+N.+Howe+(1997).+The+fourth+turning%3A+An+American+prophecy%2C+Broadway.

There are a lot of answers to this question talking about how entitled everyone in America is. I just want to propose a counterpoint. Some recent Pew research suggests that millennials (people born after 1980) are significantly more responsible and realistic about the adult world than previous generations. In a NY Times article, it is suggested that the recessions following the 90's may have contributed to this more pragmatic outlook. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/magazine/do-millennials-stand-a-chance-in-the-real-world.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. I also want to point out that the question asks about 'whiners', which to me, means people who complain about things but don't do anything about them. I am surrounded by people who engage in political discussions, who protest injustices that they see around them, and make lifestyle choices based on principles they believe in. Therefore, I say no.  No, we are not a country of whiners.

Perhaps it is the result of the fact that I work in high tech, a bloody competitive business, and mostly deal with people in the middle to later stages of their career, that I just haven't perceived this "whining problem." I don't see anyone whining. That makes me wonder if there isn't a meme or crafted message, perceived only by people who are looking for it, that there is a problem when there isn't. Can we get some actual data, before we start "fixing" a problem that may not be there?

On some things maybe but our biggest problem is our lack of complaining about our political system. Our elected leaders in Washington only care about catering to the interests of their millionaire and billionaire donors and partner with them to screw over Americas middle class. It time Americans raised the whining to a Lions Roar and let Washington know that yes this is our country you dirtbags and we are coming for it. we fought and died for it how dare you hand it over to greedy multinational corporations.

CEOs used to earn about 20 times what everybody else made. Now it's 300 to 500 times as much, depending on how you fudge the numbers. How about we cut YOUR relative pay by over 95% and see how much YOU whine? My guess is you don't even bother to look up the facts but instead say, "What is happening is PERFECT because I like the philosophy of "might makes right." Add in "Nazis were efficient and I only care about efficiency." and you've got the perfect recipe for evil men to steal everyone else's productivity increases. HEIL HITLER!

We are a nation of whiners. More than that, we are a nation of people who don't want to accept responsibility for our mistakes. Everyone likes to play the blame game and point fingers, but all of us have some responsibility in this mess of our country. While going around blaming everyone else for all your problems is wrong, likely, the people who you are blaming might actually have some responsibility for your problems. But you likely can't blame it all on them, and you have some responsibility as well. On the other hand, the people being blame shouldn't dismiss the accusers. Maybe you have done said person wrong. And for a country of 300 million people, you cannot solely blame one side or group for all the problems. Most people in general, regardless of their affiliation or whatever are part o the problem.