Doesn't anyone on the left ever get tired of their leaders' hypocrisy?
In the State of the Union, Obama once more went after “the few” and “the wealthiest and the most powerful,” whom he blasted as the “well-off and the well-connected” and the “billionaires with high-powered accountants.”
Like clockwork, the president then jetted to West Palm Beach for yet another golfing vacation at one of the nation’s priciest courses, replete with lessons from a $1,000-an-hour golf pro to improve the presidential putting.
The rest of the first family jetted off on their own skiing vacation to elite Aspen, Colo., where nobody accepts that at some point they’ve already “made enough money.” Meanwhile, below the stratosphere, unemployment rose to 7.9 percent for January — the 49th consecutive month it has been 7.8 percent or higher. The economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012, gas is back to almost $4 a gallon, and the government continues to borrow almost $4 billion a day.
Today’s leftists like the high life as much as their demonized conservative rivals do. The more they damn the bad “millionaires and billionaires,” apparently the less guilt they feel about living it up in Palm Beach or Aspen — paying no taxes, offshoring their profits, or wearing Rolex watches.
The vast growth of the federal government has splashed so much big money around New York and Washington that even muckraking progressives can’t resist. Loud redistributionist rhetoric offers the necessary vaccination shot that makes privileged leftists immune from any criticism — or guilt — over indulging in tax avoidance, billion-dollar speculation, or aristocratic tastes.
When I was young, it seemed that the liberals I knew and knew of were not rich. I suppose there were some around, but they didn't seem so prominent back then. People like Humphrey, Johnson, and Mondale seemed to have pretty ordinary backgrounds, and so it was easy to believe that the Democrats were the party of the poor. Today, it's different. It's so much easier to see the hypocrisy.
Posted by: John Pepple | Friday, February 22, 2013 at 06:23 PM
John - Democrats like Humphrey and Mondale were very different kinds of liberals. Humphrey was and still is a man I admired greatly.
I must admit that in general, I strongly believe the quality of our politicians has gone downhill. As alwasy - I blame us, the voters. If not for us, they wouldn't be in power.
Posted by: Peg | Friday, February 22, 2013 at 06:33 PM