This column was printed in my local paper today. I noticed the writer's .edu email extension, which wasn't at all surprising. As Orwell once said, "There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them."
He begins his article by disavowing violence as a means for achieving class equality, but doesn't entirely rule it out. How nice.
I found this paragraph particularly interesting, and for more than one reason.
In America, we should be able to resurrect the idea that while some of the rich got that way by being smarter and more industrious than the rest of us, to a large degree American wealth depends on two things: (1) an abundance of natural resources that are theoretically the birthright of the entire nation rather than individuals and (2) an educated, creative, and hardworking populace, many of whom — firefighters, soldiers, nurses, teachers — have decided not to make the acquisition of wealth their life’s work.
One interesting aspect of that statement is that it's only recently I've heard the arguments repeated again and again that the rich owe the rest of us because the rest of us are "letting them" use our country's resources, and that the rest of us are doing jobs that help make the lives of the rich possible. This article is the first time I can recall someone saying that those who are not rich are so by choice, as though the choice of a safe 9-5 job is an altruistic gesture that makes it possible for others to be wealthy. I think even Orwell would be outraged by such an idea.
These new excuses for going after more money from the wealthy are far beyond those of just a few years ago. Then it was a question of fairness, and of compassion for those less fortunate (even if such compassion is extracted at the point of a gun). Now, the wealthy owe the rest of us because we allowed them to become wealthy. We allowed them to utilize resources while we politely declined. We selflessly worked in factories and drove trucks so that they could work endless hours creating businesses that would employ factory workers and truck drivers.
It's only a stone's throw now from "the rich owe us" to "we're taking their stuff by force".
If this wasn't real, it would be farcical.