WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Black And Blue. “The collapse of the blue social model, a shift from federal to local power and a shift from government to the private sector are not race-neutral topics. It’s not just the underclass in the inner cities who face problems as the old models of subsidy and support become less sustainable; middle class African Americans compared to whites tend to work disproportionately in public sector jobs or in private sector jobs like health care that are heavily subsidized by government transfers. . . . you need to think seriously about what this means for the group in American life most closely tied to the failing blue system.”