I guess my question is when was it ever not this way? Seems way better now than in the past.

It doesn't [0] always work out [1] this way.

But it does seem like a consistent theme across civil wars - when the divide between a ruling class and the average is too large, then something violent eventually happens [2].

Lets hope we rebalance before reaching the point where everyone loses, this time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring