The Golden Teapot calling the kettle “elitist”

The day after Ronald Reagan’s former economic advisor went on 60 Minutes and soberly articulated on the subject of this micro-tunnel vision anti tax movement being a completely unrealistic delusion, I looked it up on the web and immediately came across a Tea partier’s comment on it.

This guy was carrying on about how the top 5% should not be punished for their achievements. And that anyone who wants to tax that top 5% should instead work harder to become part of that top 5%. And anyone who fails to do so is just too lazy. He went on to say things like if we don’t tax the top 5% we will be rewarded by those wealthiest of wealthy “showering us with charity”. I had to laugh out loud at that point.

Anyhow, here’s the thing. First of all never mind this guy’s asinine assertion that the uberwealthy are going to magically feel compelled to “shower” us “lazy” 95% with “charity”. I’ll forgive that comment because I have compassion for the mentally handicapped. Let’s just focus on, or rather (for the tunnel vision afflicted) broaden our perception to the reality of all us “lazy” folk in that 95%.

5% of about 310.6 million is always about 15.5 million. And 95% of 310.6 million is always about 295 million. You can’t argue with the math. No matter which people move into that top 5%, that 5% will always equal just 15.5 million compared to the 295 million of the rest of us.

This is a classic example of right wing hypocrisy. The right wing propaganda machine is constantly slapping the “Elitist” label on everyone left of center. While from the same pulpit, they proclaim that 95% of Americans are just too damn lazy for not working hard enough elevate themselves to that (elite) top 5%.

I get the basic argument. I believe in personal responsibility. While I observe the horror and sheer lunacy of the far right worshiping capitalism as a religion, I still don’t disagree with capitalism as a system of government. But you have to be realistic. Yes, a certain portion of truly lazy, no good bastards will always be out there, wrongfully taking advantage of social programs. But they only represent a small fraction of those benefiting from social programs. Proportionally, the no good bastards at the other end of the spectrum, those whom gained the most from events leading to the financial meltdown, took far more from all of us than any amount of fraudulent food stamps could ever add up to.

But my point is really about the unrealistic nature how extreme the right wing presents everything. All of these nonsensical absolutes:
If you’re not in favor of an absolutely pure form of capitalism, you must be a “socialist”
If you criticize the war effort you must be an “anti-American” flag burning “troop basher”

None of this type of rhetoric has any place in reality, because reality is a balance of all factors. No matter how deeply you bury your head in the sand, all factors still exist. No matter how far you lean off the starboard side of the ship, the port side never stops existing.

Like it or not, this facet of reality applies to the right wing approach to personal responsibility. Regarding the vast number of honest people who simply lack the mental or physical ability to just work out of their need for social services, I could very easily indulge in the tunnel vision attitude of “They’re not my problem”. But that’s not reality. If we were living in a Tea partier’s perfect world with zero taxes and zero social service, operating under an absolutely purified form of capitalism… Guess what? All of those “not my problem” people would still be out there. They would just be poorer, far more desperate, less educated, and spreading disease at an exponentially higher rate, while likely procreating in much greater numbers.

It’s the kind of extreme class division that results in societies that look like really bad parts of Africa, and countries like Mexico. Is that what we want to turn America into?