To assume that government is the only avenue to opportunity is the basic misguided principle of the left. To assume government is the only way compassion will be shown is equally misguided and it is insulting to each individual American. Is forcefully extracting money from one person and giving it to another called charity? No, only when willingly and cheerfully given is it charity. Does being a minority or handicapped, accidents of birth, give a person a legitimate claim on the sweat and success of others? Does being born rich and healthy obligate a person to care for the less fortunate? No, but when they do, willingly rather than through government confiscation, they are better people for it and they feel the pleasure themselves rather than passing that on to some faceless bureaucrat who doesn't feel it either. This means that government programs smother and eliminate compassion instead of exhibit it.
Were you lefties truly interested in intellectual ideas which will challenge you and set you free, you would do as Mr. Simon encourages you to do, learn the tenents of free enterprise and individual responsibility and self-created opportunity. Accomplishment is what satisfies, not forced equality.Anyone who is a Terry McAuliffe fan may not be capable of this.
The rich are to be applauded, especially those who start from ground zero. The rich provide the capital that fuels the engine of growth and creativity, they don't selfishly sit on it or bury it in the backyard. Most Americans want to become rich, not condemn the rich. Only those who despair, who don't try, who think life is unfair (the mantra preached by the left), who fail to educate themselves, in other words, those whose choices and attitudes make them the losers in life, hate the rich. The unhappy are fodder for the left and the left is a good home for them, for there they will be assured of staying unhappy.