So, I don’t normally read much George Will. He is too conservative for me. But I listen to him because he’s an interesting thinker with integrity. He’s never just been one of those talking heads that spouts talking points on the Conservative issues of the day.

So I read today a short opinion piece, “America’s Broken Bootstraps”, that Mr. Will wrote on education and upward mobility.

In his remarks, he tries to sketch out thoughts on why rapid cultural and technological change (of the kind we are experiencing the US) exacerbate an economic divide. As someone who believes is the power of education and who has devoted considerable energy and effort to broadening participation in science and mathematics at the post-secondary level, I found his observations interesting.

I don’t understand the last paragraph, however. “America’s limited-government project is at risk because the nation’s foundational faith in individualism cannot survive unless upward mobility is a fact.” It seems Mr. Will is saying that a core conviction of conservatism is being threatened by current cultural and technological dynamic. Am I reading this right?