| Inequality
has been on the left’s radar for decades and their call for change is
getting more shrill each year. During the Obama Administration we hear
that inequality is growing, inequality is getting worse. Whether it is
or not is irrelevant. What are they really trying to get at? Almost
everything on the left’s agenda is justified by inequality – they have
to do something about inequality, whether it’s inequality of income,
wealth, neighborhoods, or something else. To do this they have to convince us that inequality is evil. Americans have to be convinced because they act as individuals and admire people who achieve. The left is trying to lay the foundation for the goodness of equality and the evil of inequality. They want equality of outcome, even equality of happiness. To do this they are taking steps to undercut success and individual achievement so Americans will accept the idea of equality. Obama led the way with “You didn’t build it.” It wasn’t from your effort, you relied on your teachers, used the roads, schools, employers, suppliers and so on -- it’s not yours, it’s ours. And you were also very lucky: you had the right genes, lived in the right age, went to a school that happened to have a computer lab that happened teach programming, which you happened to take, … Another Obama notion is that, if you have a lot, you took it from someone else – the fact that you have it means someone else doesn’t. Obama talks about achievers having a “bigger piece of the pie.” Nobody believes we have a zero sum economy, but it’s in the language; businesses and individuals “give back” to the people. So, if you own something you probably didn’t build it, and you took it from someone else. All this makes it much easier to take it away from you. You get the message of what the left is doing, and it gets worse. I won’t pre-empt the bulk of Yaron’s talk – click on. |