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Do Democrats hate wealth?

joko104

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I heard a Democrat challenger of the Dem ocratic incumbent for this area (state offtce) whose radio ad for the Democratic primary boasted that he "isn't rich. Isn't it time we elect a REAL Democrat?"The near total campaign theme of Obama and national democrats is that wealthy people are evil. It is the campaign against Romney. It is overall the constrant drum beating otherwise that the wealthy are evil and the Democrats are ongoing to punish them. Do Democrats hate the wealthy?
 
I heard a Democrat challenger of the Dem ocratic incumbent for this area (state offtce) whose radio ad for the Democratic primary boasted that he "isn't rich. Isn't it time we elect a REAL Democrat?"The near total campaign theme of Obama and national democrats is that wealthy people are evil. It is the campaign against Romney. It is overall the constrant drum beating otherwise that the wealthy are evil and the Democrats are ongoing to punish them. Do Democrats hate the wealthy?

of course not. Nancy Pelosi has used her position to make herself fabulously wealthy. Ditto Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and all the rest. They don't hate the wealthy - they are the wealthy (though of course, they may not have accepted that).

But they think that people envy the wealthy and they are willing to manipulate that in order to achieve political success. Talking down about the visibly successful makes lots of people feel better about themselves (witness our celebrity coverage), and people feel more morally justified in taking from those whom they disparage.
 
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I heard a Democrat challenger of the Dem ocratic incumbent for this area (state offtce) whose radio ad for the Democratic primary boasted that he "isn't rich. Isn't it time we elect a REAL Democrat?"The near total campaign theme of Obama and national democrats is that wealthy people are evil. It is the campaign against Romney. It is overall the constrant drum beating otherwise that the wealthy are evil and the Democrats are ongoing to punish them. Do Democrats hate the wealthy?

Uh, no, democrats do not hate the wealthy, at least I don't. But it would be nice if you provided a link so we can put what you're talking about in context.
 
I don't think Dems hate the "Rich". For a longtime now, Reps have been perceived and labeled as the party of the rich, so Dem politicians have taken a page from the Military playbook and are practicing a strategy known as Dehumanizing the Enemy. They have enslaved people to benefit programs to keep them voting Dem and try to entice others into their net by offering up some benefit that people will get if the Dems get/stay in office. Of course, all of this needs to be paid for somehow and "everybody knows the rich don't pay enough taxes". Never mind the small fact that the top 10% of earners already pay over 50% of all income tax dollars taken in, they are still rich and can afford to pay more. The Dem politicians are no different than any other politician, they are only really concerned about maintaining their own power and wealth and will use any tactic/strategy that helps them stay/get into power.

Dem supporters come in varios stripes. From socialist who want wealth redistributed equally to all, to some who want to see more social programs to help the "poor" and to "rich" people who get guilt tripped into thinking they need to pay more to help the "poor".
 
I heard a Democrat challenger of the Dem ocratic incumbent for this area (state offtce) whose radio ad for the Democratic primary boasted that he "isn't rich. Isn't it time we elect a REAL Democrat?"The near total campaign theme of Obama and national democrats is that wealthy people are evil. It is the campaign against Romney. It is overall the constrant drum beating otherwise that the wealthy are evil and the Democrats are ongoing to punish them. Do Democrats hate the wealthy?

It has nothing to do with like or dislike of wealth. The reasoning tends to more be a light application of utilitarianism tempered by what is practical and achievable (or considering what is best for everyone and not just a few) when considering the answer to problems inherent within our society than any personal feelings about people of various economic classes.

This whole thing about jealousy, hatred, etc is really just a talking point and nothing more. Its sad that people are fooled by it so easily.
 
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of course not. Nancy Pelosi has used her position to make herself fabulously wealthy. Ditto Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and all the rest. They don't hate the wealthy - they are the wealthy (though of course, they may not have accepted that).

But they think that people envy the wealthy and they are willing to manipulate that in order to achieve political success. Talking down about the visibly successful makes lots of people feel better about themselves (witness our celebrity coverage), and people feel more morally justified in taking from those whom they disparage.

The right does much the same when it makes appeals against "elitism." They're two sides of the same coin - populism.
 
The right does much the same when it makes appeals against "elitism." They're two sides of the same coin - populism.



What is suprising is that people do not equate the two

The elites and the wealthy generally are one in the same.

h
 
It has nothing to do with like or dislike of wealth. The reasoning tends to more be a light application of utilitarianism tempered by what is practical and achievable (or considering what is best for everyone and not just a few) when considering the answer to problems inherent within our society than any personal feelings about people of various economic classes.

This whole thing about jealousy, hatred, etc is really just a talking point and nothing more. Its sad that people are fooled by it so easily.

Why are you so envious of and hate the rich?

Seriously, this is like asking if republicans hate the poor.
 
Why are you so envious of and hate the rich?

Seriously, this is like asking if republicans hate the poor.

To me this whole thread is nothing more than dangerous generalizations... :(
 
The power of politicians is sustained by spending other people's money. When you are spending money from china that you are borrowing, you need to do something to distract people from your over-spending and mismanagement of public funds, so you set up a distraction.

Hating on the rich is one of many distractions.
 
Interesting perspective that seems to match the posts of many here on the left.

The answer can be found in the fact that Democrats see life as a zero-sum game. To them, if someone wins that means it must come at the expense of someone else. Success is thus evil as it causes pain and suffering to others. Since America is successful — in fact unprecedentedly so — America, in their eyes, is unprecedentedly evil. Suddenly it makes sense why Democrats continually compare America to the most heinous regimes in history.

The Democrats’ hatred of success is not just limited to economics. While America is evil because of our success and corporations are, de facto, evil because they’re successful (and the most successful corporation, Wal-Mart, of course receives the most hatred from the left) the same hatred exists for those who are successful in their studies.

This is why the Democrats (and their ideological brethren in Europe) so hate Israel and so adore the Palestinians. The fact that Yasser Arafat was a corrupt, mass murdering, terrorist dictator who stole his people’s money, sent fourteen year old brainwashed children out to blow the skulls off of the infidels in Israel and intentionally kept his people in poverty to be used as political pawns is of no significance to the Democrat. The Palestinians are to be championed for their failure and Israel, a democracy with freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, is to be hated for its success.

Why do Democrats Hate America? | The Atheist Libertarian
 
I am a liberal, and I do not hate the wealthy. I believe they are necessary toward the goal of maximizing widespread financial well being. I believe maximizing widespread financial well-being is one of the primary functions of government.

In other words, I like them because they serve a beneficial purpose for the public at large. If they did not, or ceased to do so, I would not like them any more. I think most of the public should and would feel the same way.

It should be noted that they do not automatically serve that beneficial purpose. There are certain conditions which must be instituted in order for them to function well in their role. Left to their own devices, they would impoverish the general public. This would not necessarily be on purpose, but rather be the case as a result of their natural impulse to acquire.

Among those conditions are a competitive market economy with progressive taxation, wise regulation of business relations to workers, and regulation of business activity so that all true costs are internalized (such as environmental regulation). Monopoly and oligopoly must be prevented, or where its existence is desirable, should be heavily regulated. These are examples from many conditions which contribute to general prosperity.

So, when a liberal campaigns on being a 'real liberal' because they are not rich: What I take them to mean is that they have not lost sight of the purpose of rich people in a prosperous economy, and will seek to properly restore a focus toward that purpose. Not that they hate rich people.
 
Do Democrats hate wealth?

Only when someone else has earned it, not when they have the wealth.
 
Μολὼν λαβέ;1060764010 said:
Interesting perspective that seems to match the posts of many here on the left.







Why do Democrats Hate America? | The Atheist Libertarian

I am a liberal, and I do not see life as a zero sum game. A prosperous system must have economic 'winners' and 'losers' in order to function well. Liberals do not emphasize this side of the prosperity equation because wealthy people are quite good at articulating these imperatives and getting heard. So, it may seem like liberals don't talk about letting the wealthy be wealthy much, but it is because the voice for the wealthy is already quite deafening.

But back to this zero sum game notion: The pie can indeed be expanded so that there is more to divvy up, and liberals are well aware of this. The argument with conservatives is over how that pie is best expanded, and the liberal says some of the key components are utilization of idle wealth toward job creation (progressive taxation and inheritance taxes) and creating a framework where workers have greater power to negotiate their compensation (this was unions during the expanding prosperity of the last century).

When certain conditions are met to limit how wealth pools at the top, and rather is channeled toward the middle and lower, the pie does in fact increase in size, and everyone ends up more secure and better off.

Conservatives believe that the best way to expand the pie is to allow the 'free' marketplace to allow wealth to pool at the top without limit, which quite simply makes zero sense.
 
Interesting perspective indeed, although half cocked generalizations and knee deep hogwash could also serve as definitions in a pinch.

First sentence in the link;

Democrats see life as a zero-sum game. To them, if someone wins that means it must come at the expense of someone else.

Pretty sure a finite world is by it's nature a "zero-sum game". Does the author think the world is infinite?
 
I heard a Democrat challenger of the Dem ocratic incumbent for this area (state offtce) whose radio ad for the Democratic primary boasted that he "isn't rich. Isn't it time we elect a REAL Democrat?"The near total campaign theme of Obama and national democrats is that wealthy people are evil. It is the campaign against Romney. It is overall the constrant drum beating otherwise that the wealthy are evil and the Democrats are ongoing to punish them. Do Democrats hate the wealthy?

Seeing how most of the democrats in congress and senate are wealthy I would have to say no they don't hate the wealthy.That said they do like the exploit the hell out of stupid idiots by playing the class warfare card.Look that rich ass richy rich bitch mutha ****er over thar,he should be paying 20 times as much taxes as you do,Its not fair that the same tax system you use to not really pay anything at all he uses to pay less, he should be paying you,Vote for me!
 
T
Interesting perspective indeed, although half cocked generalizations and knee deep hogwash could also serve as definitions in a pinch.

Akin to idioms referring to shoes that fit.
 
I am a liberal, and I do not see life as a zero sum game. A prosperous system must have economic 'winners' and 'losers' in order to function well. Liberals do not emphasize this side of the prosperity equation because wealthy people are quite good at articulating these imperatives and getting heard. So, it may seem like liberals don't talk about letting the wealthy be wealthy much, but it is because the voice for the wealthy is already quite deafening.

But back to this zero sum game notion: The pie can indeed be expanded so that there is more to divvy up, and liberals are well aware of this. The argument with conservatives is over how that pie is best expanded, and the liberal says some of the key components are utilization of idle wealth toward job creation (progressive taxation and inheritance taxes) and creating a framework where workers have greater power to negotiate their compensation (this was unions during the expanding prosperity of the last century).

When certain conditions are met to limit how wealth pools at the top, and rather is channeled toward the middle and lower, the pie does in fact increase in size, and everyone ends up more secure and better off.

Conservatives believe that the best way to expand the pie is to allow the 'free' marketplace to allow wealth to pool at the top without limit, which quite simply makes zero sense.

The gov't take, via VERY PROGRESSIVE taxation, "for the common good" was once the extent of the liberal money grab, and somewhat justified, even agreed to by the right in large part. The emphasis NOW, however, has shifted to direct income redistribution, rather than spending ONLY for common "infrastructure" or services, coupled with an attitude that even if taxation does not support this spending, that it will simply be BORROWED and spent now, thus assuring future taxation is needed to repay that debt (kicking the can down the road).

This creates a very dangerous situation in a democracy (or democratic republic) since we have appraoched a FIT scheme that has more voters that are tax getters than are taxpayers (if you count in those that work directly for the gov't thus both pay into and get back from those those funds as net "getters").

MUCH of the "tax reform" talk, as of late, is how to extort more taxation from ONLY those at the top income levels so that more may be given directly to those at the bottom income levels; this is not being discussed honestly, by many, and is, in fact, class warfare as well as income redistribution.
 
This is a ridiculous question.
 
Μολὼν λαβέ;1060764155 said:
T

Akin to idioms referring to shoes that fit.
More closely akin to a humorous dismissal of presenting a half baked blog dripping with right wing rhetoric as a credible source on the subject at hand, which coincidentally also falls into the category of unsubstantiated gibberish.
 
Nobody hates wealth. Everyone wants it. We mostly hate when other people have it and we don't.
 
Of course they dont hate wealth...there are many rich democrats and many very rich billionaires and millionaires that are democrats...Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, George Soros, Steven Speilberg and many others.
What democrats hate is the abuse of wealth...the misuse of wealth to dominate others and the incessant greed that goes along with it...making them take more and more at the expense of the little people just because they can, not because they need it.....and thats precisely what theyve done in the last 20 yrs.
 
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