Spreading The Wealth - Not So Much

While perusing other blogs I enjoy reading the comments. In many cases we are really just preaching to the choir, but every now and then we get the real treat of hearing opposing opinions. Sadly, sometimes they are not opposing opinions, but the comments are outright mean-spirited. While reading a post on a blog I read often; Left Coast Rebel I came across one such comment.

This is a comment left by Anonymous:

I find it far more elitist to think that the poor deserve to die starving, diseased, and ignorant while the those who happen to be born with talents the market happens to be seeking at the time are rewarded with opulence and excess beyond measure

Now, this comment is placed on a post about MSNBC’s deception of showing a picture of a man who came to a town hall meeting with guns. During the showing of this picture they were having a discussion about racists possibly taking a shot at a black president. The problem was the man with the guns was also black, but they cropped the picture in such a way that you wouldn’t know that.

I will be the first to admit that bloggers on both sides of the aisle can be, let’s just say, not very tolerant of other views. I sometimes cringe when I read some of the things that are posted. I recently hid someone on facebook because I found the postings to be vile and unproductive. This particular person epitomizes what is wrong with the political landscape in this country. The posts have racial undertones that I find very uncomfortable. But I digress here. What exactly is the correlation here?

I have been reading LCR’s blog for a while now. I have yet to find anything on there that would warrant such a charge. There is a stereotypical view of conservatives; we have outright disdain of the poor. The facts just don’t bear out that conclusion.

Studies have shown that conservatives/republicans/Christians give more money to charity than the leftwing/democrats/atheists’ of the world. One has to look no further than Vice President Biden. This is a man that has the audacity to go on television and talk about paying higher taxes as a patriotic duty as we need to help the vulnerable of our nation; yet he gives a mere pittance of his yearly salary to help these people. I give a larger percentage of my salary to charity than he does.

Recently I came across a very interesting tidbit. Regular readers of my blogs know that I love little tidbits, and post them regularly. So here is one that should make anonymous think. I may be incorrect here, but I have this feeling that (s)he believes in the president’s view of “spreading the wealth”. Economists call the total global wealth supply the M3 value. We will take the entire world’s wealth and put into one large pot and “spread” out equally among every person on earth we would each get $9000. Does this still sound like a good idea? If you live in say North Korea or the poorest sections of South Africa I guess the answer would be yes. But if you are living in America, you will be thinking this is not such a good deal.

So, let us take this one step further. Does anyone believe that after making everything equal financially that it will stay that way in say 18 months? There is no way a logical thinking person can conclude that it will. One needs to look no further than Chris Gardner. This is a man who against all odds succeeded. He is far from the only person who makes a very successful life for himself after having virtually nothing. There are plenty of people who don’t make that type of wealth, but still make a decent life for themselves and their families. Yes, luck is sometimes a factor, but almost always hard work is involved.

It just irks me that people feel like some sort of Utopia actually exists. It doesn’t. It would be nice if that were true, maybe it would be more “fair”. The reality is life is not fair. No government or human being can make it so. Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. All we can do is work hard and help others along the way.