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Why socialists hate rich people: Neal Boortz reveals underlying envy, laziness infecting America
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, December 17, 2002 | Neal Boortz

Posted on 12/17/2002 12:02:32 AM PST by JohnHuang2

There's a dark little corner of the Internet where a gruesome assortment of leftists and socialists gather to post what passes for their "thoughts" on political issues. The site is called DemocraticUnderground.com, and it's certainly worth a quick stop the next time you go cruising. Several of my listeners keep a constant watch on this site and alert me to particularly interesting discussion threads.

I catch a lot of flak for my constant references to the Democratic Party as the Democratic Socialist Party. Maybe I can quell some of the dissension by telling you some of the postings I have read on Democratic Underground recently.

Last Thursday, a comment appeared with the title, "It's official, I'm a socialist at heart." This writer had visited a neighborhood of "multi-million dollars homes" that for the most part have only "two people (rich, old white couples) living in them." She wrote, "I really cannot stand rich, selfish people. I do believe in redistribution of wealth. Rich people do not get that way by themselves, they do it on the backs of others." Other Democratic Underground members chimed in with their responses. Among them:

That, my friends, is scary stuff, but it's nothing I haven't heard in 33 years of hosting talk-radio shows. There is burning envy – an envy that borders on outright hatred of the rich in this country. This envy is intense enough to consume the hearts and minds of many who call themselves "Democrats."

Where does this hatred come from? Why is it so important to so many people to believe that the evil rich got their money through anything but hard work?

To understand this, you need to imagine yourself struggling to make ends meet. You're renting an apartment and driving every day to a dead-end job that 's going nowhere. You work your 40-hour week, and have nothing to show for it but rent receipts and credit card bills. You hear about all of these people getting sick on cruise ships, and grouse that you don't have enough money to even get on the ship, let alone throw up on the poop deck.

So, just why aren't you rich? Why don't you have a fancy car? Why aren't you tossing your lunch on Caribbean cruises? Why do you make rent payments instead of mortgage payments?

The last thing you want to do is to admit that this all may be your fault. Your poverty couldn't possibly have anything to do with your decision to forego college for that great job at the mall. You're also convinced that your decision to hang out with your friends at night instead of getting some more education at the local community college was the right one. Hey! You work hard and deserve your fun, right?

And just why should you have to work more than 40 hours a week? That's what you're supposed to work, right? Forty hours, no more. After all, you're not a slave, are you? What about your huge car payments? Sure, you could be putting that money into an investment account, but you need that fancy car, right? And the rims? Hey! A guy's gotta be cool, you know what I'm saying?

So ? those rich people? Did they get that way doing the things you won't do? Working the 60-hour week, continuing with their education, buying cheap cars with ordinary wheels and investing the rest? Do they have the nice homes and the fancy cars because they make good choices and aren't afraid of taking a risk now and then?

No way! If a person could really get rich that way you would have done it already, right? No, that's now how they got their money. These people are rich because they exploited people. They got their money by climbing on the backs of working people like you! They were lucky! They inherited it! They didn't earn it. If it could be earned, you would have done it, right?

You have to protect yourself here, don't you? If you accept that the vast majority of those you call "rich" got there through hard work, then don't you have to ask yourself why you're not one of them? It's just so much easier to cast them as callous, selfish monsters and evil exploiters of the working class while preserving the mantle of goodness and righteousness for yourself. Hey, you may be poor, but at least you're a nice person, right?


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To: JohnHuang2
bump ....
41 posted on 12/17/2002 6:36:58 AM PST by Centurion2000
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To: MosesKnows
Excellent. Love the restaurant story.
42 posted on 12/17/2002 6:56:54 AM PST by OldBlondBabe
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To: JohnHuang2
i understand a bit what he is talking about. i used to be a normal english teacher here in japan earning 2500$ a month for 25 hrs. of work. a problem arose and i was fired from my job. i promptly moved from the country to kyoto and now make 40$ an hour teaching at an university. i love my job and i have met and married the most wonderful woman in the world. i dont think im rich, but we make enough to eat out every night and drink together in kyoto (not that we do). its amazing the opportunities that God has provided us and we, being only 26 years old make a combined income of about 60,000+ a year. it's silly that people whine about the wealthy. my father loves his job, makes 100,000+ a year, and is a well respected man. those people who think that living poor is a good thing only do it because they have no ambition and cheat themselves from enjoying their job and life.
43 posted on 12/17/2002 7:03:40 AM PST by struggle
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To: mrustow
"He worked hard."

He should have said: 'He worked smart." The reason that most folks are relatively poor is that they work stupid.

44 posted on 12/17/2002 7:06:23 AM PST by wcbtinman
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To: wcbtinman
Like most socialists, mrrustow didn't stick around to defend his comments. Probably because socialism is indefensible.
45 posted on 12/17/2002 7:11:05 AM PST by Republic of Texas
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To: JohnHuang2
I catch a lot of flak for my constant references to the Democratic Party as the Democratic Socialist Party. Maybe I can quell some of the dissension by telling you some of the postings I have read on Democratic Underground recently.

Just to stay intellectually honest here....

Not every Democrat subscribes to the views expressed by DU. DU is basically a website for liberal Dem activists -- that's a minority of the party. A pretty influential one, and one that often tries to steer the rest of their throng blindly to a socialist agenda, but still a minority.

Anyway, the point is that we should be careful before linking all Dems to DU, because we may end up looking like we are attacking a strawman to the extent the particular Dem doesn't subscribe to DU. It'd be a bit like citing to FR as the cornerstone of Republican beliefs.

46 posted on 12/17/2002 7:19:44 AM PST by XJarhead
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Comment #47 Removed by Moderator

To: All
Some poverty can be rightfully contributed to a state of mind. I have had nothing in the past but my nothing was clean and well cared for. My mind and body were sharp and my attitude was in the right place. I was not ashamed and I was determined to better myself, not just for material goods but for establishing and providing for a family of my own. I have made a few good choices and I find myself in a much better situation today. I am married to a moral woman of good character and we have built a respectable home for ourselves. I do not have children yet because I cannot afford the quality education I would like to provide them with. Next year this will be overcome aswell.
48 posted on 12/17/2002 7:46:21 AM PST by The Toll
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To: fissionproducts
"Once daddy's money is gone they will be poor. Nothing lasts forever. "

Does anyone recall the old saying about the first generation builds the empire, the second enlarges it and the third destroys it? Something like that?
49 posted on 12/17/2002 7:48:34 AM PST by freedumb2003
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To: The Toll
Just a comment: Living well is the best revenge!!!
50 posted on 12/17/2002 7:58:48 AM PST by OregonRancher
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To: MosesKnows
Do you suppose President Bush could tell this story at the state of the union?
51 posted on 12/17/2002 8:30:57 AM PST by CPT Clay
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To: mrustow
Rich people got rich by inheritance, luck, hard work, marriage, athletic talent, intellectual talent, some other talent or some combination there of. I don't think we can confiscate the wealth of the "undeserving" because exactly who gets to decide who is "undeserving" and who is not. Beside, wealth confiscation has been nothing but a receipe for capital flight and eventual destruction of "capitalism" which needs capital to function. Capitalism may not be perfect, but it seems to be preferable to anything else that man has tried.
52 posted on 12/17/2002 8:43:38 AM PST by staytrue
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To: mrustow
According to The American Enterprise, 80% of America's millionaires are self-made millionaires. Of course, there's "work hard" and there's "work smart." Few people want to admit they don't work hard, and fewer yet will admit they aren't really as smart as they think they are.
53 posted on 12/17/2002 8:49:30 AM PST by A_perfect_lady
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To: MattAMiller
People are more likely to support such a thing when they can see themsleves as masters of such a world.

You are 100% right. I see them all the time. They are called "Humanities professors."

54 posted on 12/17/2002 8:51:38 AM PST by A_perfect_lady
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To: nopardons
As bitter as the serpent's tooth/
To have a Thankless child

(King Lear)

55 posted on 12/17/2002 9:01:02 AM PST by Jim Noble
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To: mrustow
You are pathetic. I realize that constitutes a personal attack and is therefore frowned upon by this site, but I have no other way of characterizing your apparent hatred of success and that of the other socialist/marxists in the world. It is pathetic, simple-minded, and stupid. Furthermore, that midset is the fundamental opposite of what makes this country strong, and the opposite of anyone who is successful.

If someone builds a better mousetrap (and markets and sells it) they deserve to be rewarded. If that makes them rich, great. Anyone who wishes to change that fundamental dynamic in the American system is an enemy of this country's principles and an enemy of mine.
56 posted on 12/17/2002 9:21:46 AM PST by spodefly
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To: Myrddin
Your response is one that shows the possiblities of someone who is hard working. There are however, many who work similar hours with just as much if not more enthusiasm for their work and never have the chance to advance from doing mundane work. Many of those will never earn more than 9 or 10 bucks an hour.

Those of us who have been lucky in many ways to have the opportunity for advancement due to education and hard work. Some don't have the luxury of education or possibly the smarts to make it through college or engineering school. But they have an extremely strong work ethic.

I often hear from those who have no idea what hard work is wonder how people like you have made it. And I've also heard from the people I just described above ask the same question. "I work two jobs 14-16 hours a day 7 days a week and still don't have a nice car, 3500 square foot home, take luxury vacations or have a boat."

I too work 60-70 hours a week and still drive through neighborhoods wondering how those folks afford the nice homes that I only dream of. And many also have 40 hour work weeks (or at least they appear to have ample leisure time). They make it to their sons afternoon football practice, go on the scouting trips, serve as room mothers. IT appears that both you and I have missed many of those precious hours because we are working extensively.

57 posted on 12/17/2002 11:38:32 AM PST by joesbucks
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To: Myrddin
I spent a year pursuing an MS in pathogenic bacteriology, but dropped it when a severe case of pneumonia almost killed me.

There's a lesson in irony in there somewhere...

58 posted on 12/17/2002 12:13:41 PM PST by xsrdx
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To: mrustow
According to Boortz, no one ever spent years earning degrees, and then worked 60-80 hours a week, without making spit.

Of course, there are some 'degrees' that aren't worth spit. 'Gender studies', 'Racial politics', 'Empowerment and diversity', etc.

59 posted on 12/17/2002 12:17:38 PM PST by WileyC
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To: joesbucks
There are however, many who work similar hours with just as much if not more enthusiasm for their work and never have the chance to advance from doing mundane work. Many of those will never earn more than 9 or 10 bucks an hour.

Generally speaking, you don't put in long hours doing something you hate. There are other forms of compensation besides money.

I know guys who put in twice the hours I do, love their job ten times as much, work much harder, get about the same amount done, and make half as much. Their zeal for their job overpowers their common sense and even their ability to do the very job they love so much!

60 posted on 12/17/2002 12:32:38 PM PST by hopespringseternal
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