There is a sharp line I draw between social commentary that means something and the sort of things we hear from politicians, academics, entertainers, etc. The line is drawn for a specific reason.

I feel that to comment on society one needs to be a part of the common social fabric. The local plumber is in a position to comment on society. The fast food cook. A waitress. Definitely a cab driver. Me. You. We represent the majority and therefor the society in general.

After a politician has attained a degree of power in the governing structure, he/she has essentially removed themselves from society as a whole and resides in another place. A place that really can't directly understand or even empathize with the people. I know, they put on a good show, but they have been removed from the immediacy of life down here in the daily grind. Most of the extremely wealthy and the newly wealthy in particular are either totally removed from us who actually make the world work, or they want to be. That's not all of them, of course, but the majority fit the description. Spiritual leaders? Hell, they're not even part of any reality for the most part. How about a celibate priest counseling on marital sexual issues?

There seems to be a common misunderstanding about that greater social fabric that buoys up the 'others'. It is assumed that Senator So-and-So has his/her finger on the pulse of the people and that they are somehow smarter than all those other folk in the trenches. In spite of their best efforts (yes, I think some of them are sincere) on our behalf, what they have to say usually comes off like pontification rather than commentary and is frequently so far off the mark as to be laughable. Well, it would be laughable if it didn't affect us so directly.

The same is more or less true for entertainers and academics. It is not that they can't make comments or have insights from time to time that are profoundly important to that greater fabric, but that happens infrequently. I would say that entertainers are generally less guilty of this separation from us, but they are usually a bit removed.

Anyway, I voted for 'You and I', though I do hold one individual as probably one of the greatest social commentators of all time, and that was Eric Hoffer.