I thought it was high time to write a piece about class envy and class warfare, a very pertinent topic in todays world. A powerful tool in the hands of social change agents, the tactic of pitting one economic class against another has been used many times in human history to bring about revolution and turmoil. Let us take an honest look at how this phenomenon appears, affects, and influences us and our country in these turbulent times.
Just last week, Van Jones held a rally at the capital in Washington DC billed as "The New American Dream". How marvelous. Dear old Van has either turned a corner idealogically, or he has mastered his plan to, and I quote Van Jones "drop the radical pose for the radical ends". For those of you who don't know who Van Jones is, he is a self proclaimed communist and hater of American capitalism and the freedom it provides. He was appointed as a "Green Jobs Czar" by President Obama, but was sent packing after his Communist Party affiliation was exposed by Glenn Beck. Darn! He wasn't able to fundamentally transform America with his taxpayer funded, union empowering plans to force solar power ( a very un-green technology) and his other wealth dissolving schemes on the American public.
Van had his friends at The International Socialist Organization pull the rally permit for him, and proudly (arrogantly) took the stage. He did indeed drop the radical, revolutionary pose that has been his mode of operation for decades, and was speaking with fuzzy words like love, brotherhood and (whoops) solidarity. But he couldn't help himself when it came time to deliver his core message: The rich people are stealing the American Dream. Always under the surface is the Marxist mantra of wealth re-distrtibution via revolution.
If you care to listen and read the talking points coming from the Left, you cannot deny the presence of this corrosive doctrine. You can hear it coming out of the mouths of the mainstream press and oozing off of the pages of liberal blogs, magazines and newspapers. They tell you that the billionaires and corporations are taking all of the money and oppressing YOU, the little guy. They say it over and over and over again every day in many ways. And always its the conservatives, Republicans and Tea Partiers who advance the evil, money grubbing plan to enslave the masses and starve the babies and old fogies to death, so they can eat more tenderloins and caviar off of their fresh corpses. I hear it every time I try to engage a liberal in an honest debate.
If I can get a soft word in edgewise ( the liberal is usually yelling and red-faced by this point), I will say something like, "yes, but what about the billionaire liberals and their massive corporations?" at which point I may get a momentary chance to inform my counterpart that the largest corporations and the wealthiest people in the world are all leftists ( I have the names), or that the Democrat Senators are every bit as well invested in big oil as Republicans and that they also have a monopoly on public sector union votes which they have secured through illegal deals and false promises. Before they start ranting about how stupid George Bush is, I might be able to slip in my views on the radical left and their successful agenda to control education, regulation, and natural resources, all at the expense of the same "little guy" middle class that they lie to about caring for.
You see, while they have us distracted with this class envy, convincing us that the reason you are suffering is because some wealthy businessman somewhere has more than his fair share, the politicians are invisibly lining their pockets and reinforcing their positions as the ruling class. What is really happening is that they are working together with the banks and corporations to pad their own nests. They expand the numbers of government employees as the private sector shrivels under the burdens of over-regulation and dwindling access to natural resources. Who are the greedy millionaires stealing your opportunities? Look to the real ruling class rather than the business class.
How easy it is now for the press to persuade the populace that the Republicans are only for the rich. It amazes me to observe the consistency of opinion of those on the left who take their views directly from the evening news. Otherwise intelligent people will parrot the mainstream media and find themselves genuinely emotional about the alleged collusion between the GOP and "the rich". I submit to you, that this is nothing more than slight of hand and misinformation. How are so many Americans kept in the dark about the truth? Why do they mindlessly follow the propaganda of the liberal press? Why do they refuse to listen to the facts about poverty, wealth, business and the consuming growth of government? And why can they not grasp the irrationality of the proven impossibility of leveling the playing field through this ideology of social justice through wealth re-distribution?
I was working with a young man on a construction project this last summer. During our lunch break one day I switched radio programs from the usual leftist NPR to the Rush Limbaugh program. The disgust and outrage was instant and intense. When I asked him what the problem was, he informed me that he hated Rush for all of his lies. When I asked him what Rush was lying about, he of course could not provide an example. Instead he informed me that Rush was just too rich and selfish, that he made too much money.
I made the point that it wasn't Rush's fault that he has the #1 rated radio show on the planet. I also said that if I was in his position, I would also be making the big bucks and that would be just fine with me. "Well he should give more away instead of being such a rich pig!", he raved. Class envy.
I said, "I will bet you my days wages that Rush gives away far more money than you do, on a percentage basis." No reply. "And how do you decide how much income is too much income?", I asked. No intelligent response. At this point I asked him to suffer through 1 hour of Rush's program and to inform me of just one lie being told. He couldn't do it. Why the resistance to the truth being told? Why the hatred of this one man's massive, self-made success? Why? Because he has been indoctrinated to despise the wealth of conservatives, while ignoring the wealth (by whatever means) of those on the left side of the road.
This is not Egypt, my friends, where there are no opportunities for the common man to start a radio program and say whatever he wants. This is not Libya where a dictator takes the wealth of the nation and purchases security and oppresses the masses. This is not Iran where radical religious fanatics control your every chance in life and cut off your head if you disagree. No, this is America, where anyone has the chance to take a risk on a crazy venture. THAT is the American dream, not Van Jones' version where "rich' people are help up with pitchforks and forced to open their bank accounts and lower their economic status to that of the welfare recipient.
There are no guarantees here. Just opportunities. And without the shackles of taxation and regulation and monopolized union voters, the opportunities are endless and wonderful. That is all we can guarantee. You have "certain inalienable rights" here. They do NOT include the right to free healthcare, endless unemployment benefits, unending welfare payments, a house, a car or an education. You have to work for your success. If you don't work for it, you aint gonna get it. Guaranteed. If you try to steal it from a rich man and spread it around, you will find yourself in the same place you were when you stole the money in the first place...or worse. Guaranteed.
Wealth redistribution has never worked. Socialism and communism always lead to the suffering of the masses and the elimination of the middle class. Every time. Every single time. Letting yourself get sucked into it through these class warfare tactics is just as foolish as moving to Cuba for the work environment. You don't hear too many glory stories of American ex-patriots living in Cuba do you? Nope.
I don't want anybody's money. I want to earn my own. I want my government to provide a business climate where I can enjoy the fruits of my labor, and I want access to the natural resources under my feet, that God has provided in my country. Its the ruling class of politicians, both Rs and Ds, who stand in the way of the American dream. Its not the rich guy. Don't worry about them. Become one yourself. Elect people to public office who will fight for your chance to live a free life with minimal government oversight. Most of all, turn off the media when you hear them pitting you against someone who has money. you don't have time for that fear and hate. You've got a legacy to build.
