More Leftist Divisiveness
“My point is broader: Stoking class envy is a step in a familiar, dangerous, and highly incendiary process. Any ideology or movement, right or left, that is organized negatively—against rather than for—enjoys an inherent advantage in politics, mobilizing unappeasable energies that never have to default on their announced goal of cleansing the body politic of its alleged poisons.”
Ms. Ruth R. Wisse writes the above in the Wall Street Journal. We Americans would do well to heed Ms. Wisse even as our President and others advocate against the one percent, more exactly, those who do well economically. Unfortunately the divisiveness Obama encourages in pursuit of political power is followed by many who consider themselves thoughtful people. For example is a recent editorial in the local state organ, the Charlotte Observer.
The writer begins with the common leftist insight into economics, decrying tax cuts for the rich then telling one to ask a local retailer which causes him to hire: lower taxes or more customers. Such insight. Will asking the retailer tell us when he will accumulate enough money to build a new manufacturing facility, or how much demand there is for lawn mowing services, or who will start a business picking up dog poop; a pooper scooper business that is. Yes, I met a lady whose business is exactly that.
We are further intrigued by being told that businesses which cater to the middle class are suffering. Among those are Sears and Pennys, both of which suffer marketing and management problems, while other stores do well. We are also told of the lower levels of visitors to Olive Garden and Red Lobster. Why not tell us of the phenomenal growth of Buffalo Wild Wings, or does that not fit the narrative?
Then, low and behold, the Republicans in the state house are blamed. No mention is made of 100 years of Democrat policies which the Republicans are just starting to change, but which exacerbated, if they didn’t cause, the problems the writer decries. The writer then defaults to divisiveness, long a staple of Charlotte Observer editorial writers. Need we be reminded of their heritage, the continually bitter Jerry Shinn and the acid musings of Ed Williams? Leaders in divisiveness and class envy were those two, while the current writers attempt to fill their shoes.
Instead of advocating policies which will help us all, the writers pretend a knowledge of economics, which they obviously don’t have. They default to the sayings of the divider in chief, President Obama; he who leads the people to envy their fellow man.
I return to Ms. Wisse who refers to a letter by Mr. Tom Perkins:
“Modern anti-Zionism, itself a patented invention of Soviet Communism and now the lingua franca of the international left, uses Israel just as Antisemitism uses Jews, directing grievance and blame and eliminationist zeal against an entire collective that has flourished on the world scene thanks to the blessings of freedom and opportunity.
Herein lies a deeper structural connection. On the global front today, the much larger and more obvious beneficiary of those same blessings is the democratic capitalist system of the United States, and the ultimate target of the ultimate negative campaign is the American people. Anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of such a campaign will find much food for thought in Mr. Perkins’s parallel.”
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