时代周刊:美国如何落到今天这步田地?(3)（在线收听）

THE STORY OF HOW ALL THIS CAME TO BE IS LIKE a movie in which everything seems clear only if it is played back from the start in slow motion.

这一切仿佛是一场电影，只有从一开始就用慢镜头回放，一切才会清晰起来。

Beginning about 50 years ago, each scene unfolded slowly, usually without any sign of its ultimate impact.

故事大致还要从50年前开始说起，那时，每一幕的节奏都很慢，通常慢到似乎不会产生任何长远的影响。

The story of America's tailspin is not about villains, though there are some.

美国股市的失控并不是一个关于恶棍的故事，虽然也的确有这种人。

It is not about a conspiracy to bring the country down, nor did it spring from one single source.

也不是关于一场推翻这个国家的阴谋的故事，甚至，这一故事的源头都不止一个。

But there is a theme that threads through and ties together all the strands:

但这个故事里依然存在一个贯穿所有线索并将它们全部串连起来的主题：

many of the most talented, driven Americans used what makes America great—

很多最富才华，也最有动力的美国人都利用了让美国变得伟大的那些因素——

the First Amendment, due process, financial and legal ingenuity,

第一修正案、正当程序、金融和法律的独创性、

free markets and free trade, meritocracy, even democracy itself—to chase the American Dream.

自由市场和自由贸易、精英制度，甚至民主本身——来追逐他们的美国梦。

And they won it, for themselves.

而且，他们赢了，为他们自己赢了。

Then, in a way unprecedented in history, they were able to consolidate their winnings, outsmart and coopt the forces that might have reined them in,

随后，他们便以前所未有的方式巩固了他们的胜利，还智胜并收服了原本可能主宰他们的力量，

and pull up the ladder so more could not share in their success or challenge their primacy.

然后收起梯子，让其他人无法分享他们的成功或挑战他们的主导地位。

By continuing to get better at what they do,

通过进一步谙熟上述操作，

by knocking away the guardrails limiting their winnings, aggressively engineering changes in the political landscape,

通过打破限制他们所能获得的战利品的护栏，强势策划政治格局的变化,

and by dint of the often unanticipated consequences of their innovations,

并凭借他们那些往往出人意料的创新成果,

they created a nation of moats that protected them from accountability and from the damage their triumphs caused in the larger community.

他们给这个国家建起了护城河，保护他们不被问责，保护他们以牺牲全体社会为代价追逐个人胜利之际不必承受损失。

Most of the time, our elected and appointed representatives were no match for these.

大多数时候，我们选举并任命的代表们都根本无法与这些成就异常突出的人相提并论。

As a result of their savvy, their drive and their resources

他们有头脑，有动力，有资源

(and a certain degree of privilege, as these strivers may have come from humble circumstances but are mostly white men),

(还有一定程度的特权，因为这些奋斗者或许也有出身卑微的，但他们大多都是白人),

America all but abandoned its most ambitious and proudest ideal:

美国差点就放弃了它最具雄心壮志，也最为自豪的理想；

the never perfect, always debated and perpetually sought after balance

从来都不完美，总是被争论不休却永远都被吹捧着的，

between the energizing inequality of achievement in a competitive economy and the community-binding equality promised by democracy.

激励大家在竞争激烈的经济体里追求不平等成就的做法与民主体制所承诺的，约束整个社会群体的平等之间的平衡。

In a battle that began a half-century ago, the achievers won.

在这场半个世纪前就已开始的战争中，成功的人取得了胜利。

The result is a new, divided America.

结果是，美国变成了一个新的、分裂的美国。

On one side are the protected few—the winners—

一头是被保护的少数人——也即那些赢家——

who don't need government for much and even have a stake in sabotaging the government's responsibility to all of its citizens.

这些人并不太需要政府，破坏政府对所有公民的责任反倒关系着他们的利益。

For them, the new, broken America works fine, at least in the short term.

对他们而言，破碎的新美国也挺好，至少短期内是这样。

An understaffed IRS is a plus for people most likely to be the target of audits.

对那些最有可能成为审计目标的人来说，国税局人手不足反倒成了一件好事。

Underfunded customer service at the Social Security Administration is irrelevant to those not living week to week, waiting for their checks.

社会保障总署客户服务部资金不足跟那些不用每周都要等着支票才能维持生计的人并不相干。

Except for the most civic-minded among them, corporate executives are not likely to worry that their government doesn't produce a comprehensive budget.

除非是最具公益意识的部分企业高管，其他人不太可能因为他们的政府没有制定全面的预算而担忧。

They don't worry about the straitjacket their government faces in recruiting and rewarding talent

他们并不担心政府在招聘和奖励人才、

or in training or dismissing the untalented because of a broken civil-service system.

培训或因公务员制度失灵而解雇没有才能的人方面所面临的限制。