My heart has never before beaten excitedly over a newspaper column, but Cal Thomas brought me to that pitch on July 12 with “In Obama, Dems’ View, Success Must Be Punished.” A little ungainly, perhaps, but the title no doubt served to catch the eye of the gratified, as well as the incensed, which would include me.
To summarize for the benefit of those who missed this column, here are Mr. Thomas’s major points: ♦ People become millionaires and billionaires because of hard work, risk-taking, and the values by which they live. ♦ The wealthy have become so because they made “right choices,” and they should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labor. ♦ Taxes and regulations are designed to “punish” them. ♦ The luxuries they enjoy — like private jets and yachts — should be exempt from taxation, because the production of those luxuries creates jobs. ♦ Many Democrats are rich, but they don’t want anyone else to become so, because they “might just vote Republican.” ♦ The Democratic party has declared “war on achievers” — the wealthy, presumably — in spite of the fact that “they built and sustained the nation.” I have to challenge first and foremost the point Thomas is trying to make that the wealthy collectively represent a higher form of human life. In fact, the values and choices of some land them in prison every year, and that number could justifiably be much larger. In addition, of course much of wealth is inherited, not self-made, and ambition and ability don’t always go with it. Nevertheless, the tax codes are continuing to be actively exploited to create new generations of heirs who will never have to work or take risks in order to enjoy a life of extraordinary privilege and even indolence. This administration has not declared war on the nation’s achievers. It is simply proposing to take another look at the ways in which the wealthy have been indulged legislatively, perhaps to the detriment of the country. And the word “achiever” is not synonymous with “wealthy.” There are many ways to achieve that do not involve getting rich. In fact, many of the people who contribute most to this society do so at financial sacrifice, and for most of us, the experience of success in life has little to do with net worth at the end of it. The issue of what role the super-wealthy should play in this country is important, however. There has been much written recently about the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of an ever-smaller percentage of the population. I think of it as cellulite on the body politic, and we need to get exercised to move that fat on out. Of course, the ideal thing would be for the wealthy to act now on their fabled penchant for risk-taking and begin to create new businesses based on the innovation this country desperately needs. It would be so much better for the capitalists to create jobs so that the government doesn’t have to. I do not make these comments as a Democrat. In fact, I was a Republican for most of my adult life and even once ran for office as a Republican. At the time, I thought the party believed in creating opportunity for all through the free enterprise system, and I imagined a voice of educated sensibility. Now its most vocal spokespeople seem a little unhinged, to be frank. My perspective on the wealthy has also evolved as a result of almost six years of involvement with an alternative energy technology that could be one of the game-changers, if its manufacture could be funded. The effort to find financing continues, but what I read, what I see, and what I hear on the ground is that the wealthy are becoming increasingly fearful and risk-averse, more interested in sheltering what they have than investing it for the benefit of the country. According to the Economic Policy Institute, just 1 percent of households own about 40 percent of all privately held wealth in the United States. If a significant number of these fortunate few are focused on elegant forms of hoarding, then that reality doesn’t jibe with what Cal Thomas chooses to believe. It also doesn’t bode well for others who have ideas and drive and lack only the financial backing necessary to share the experience of success in business.
