Bernie, Liz and the Politics of Envy
There’s nothing more resentful and divisive than the politics of envy.
But if it weren’t for the politics of envy, neither Bernie Sanders nor Liz Warren would have anything to run on.
Yesterday, I was tootling along on Twitter when I noticed Bernie railing against Microsoft founder Bill Gates for having the temerity to complain about being taxed to death by the socialists running for President.
Not only is this the politics of envy, it’s wish-casting.
Does Bernie Sanders really believe that he can squeeze a hundred billion dollars out of Bill Gates every single year?
Or that homelessness can be eradicated completely for a hundred billion dollars?
You could confiscate every penny from every billionaire in the country and you still couldn’t cover a year of government spending at our current levels — let alone the increased levels in spending Bernie hopes to impose on us.
And once you’ve taken every penny from all the billionaires, what do you do the next year and the year after that?
And the year after that?
As Margaret Thatcher famously said, the problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money.
But Bernie doesn’t need it to make sense. With the politics of envy, math is irrelevant. All that matters is ginning up anger and resentment among those who hate the fact that some people have more money than they do.
But for Bernie Sanders, this isn’t just a cynical exploitation of the politics of envy simply to appeal to the bitter and resentful.
He actually is one of the bitter and resentful.
But that shouldn’t come as a galloping shock.
Other than spending a lifetime suckling at the government tit, what has Bernie Sanders done? What innovations has he contributed to our economy and society? What jobs has he created?
The better question, if you ask me, is how the hell did Bernie Sanders become a millionaire when he has contributed next to nothing to our economy and society?
The innovations — not to mention charitable contributions — Bill Gates has made over the years have improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Can Bernie Sanders claim that?
Hell, can he claim a fraction of that?
Look at Bernie’s “message” in that tweet: “the billionaire class cannot have it all when so many have so little.”
Economic illiterate that he is, Bernie thinks there is a fixed, unchanging amount of wealth in the world and a few greedy bastards are hoarding it all.
People aren’t poor because Bill Gates is rich.
There aren’t homeless because of “the billionaire class.”
Envy coupled with that kind of ignorance is a dangerous combination. But that’s Bernie Sanders.
Then there’s Liz Warren.
Unlike Bernie, who really is that envious and resentful, Liz is cynically exploiting the politics of envy.
She is a very wealthy woman who has figured out that the way to get know-nothing voters to support her is to capitalize on the politics of envy.
And boy does she.
If you go to Warren’s website (why would you want to?), she actually has a “calculator for billionaires” where you can see just how much a specific American would pay under her unconstitutional “wealth tax.”
That’s a candidate for President of the United States targeting specific Americans so that envious, resentful voters can get a thrill over how much Liz will screw ’em over.
But, that’s the politics of envy for you. You’re always counting other people’s money while ginning up resentment.
Actually, if you’re not following Carol Roth on Twitter, you really should.
Yesterday she had a thread that sums up Bernie, Liz and the politics of envy better than I ever could.
Wealthy people don’t swim in a big coin room like Scrooge McDuck.
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) November 7, 2019
That money is used to buy things which supports jobs/economy, to invest, which supports jobs/economy & for charity.
As the pie is not fixed in the US, the wealth was created & is not at someone else’s expense.
The govt takes in more than $3 trillion at the federal level- that’s more than enough $. Spending is the problem.
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) November 7, 2019
And if you didn’t have people creating wealth and expanding the pie, there wouldn’t be the ability to even spend at that level w/o more debt.
As for what someone needs, that’s not for you to decide. That’s why we have individual/property rights. How many square feet is your residence? How dare you have extra footage when people don’t have homes? Two kidneys? You only need 1-it’s selfish when people need transplants…
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) November 7, 2019
…As I said yesterday, principles matter. The principle is that it is not your business to judge what someone else has. It doesn’t come at anyone else’s expense.
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) November 7, 2019
Want to help others? Stop being jelly and go donate your money, home, iphone, etc. and leave other people alone.
Both Warren and Sanders love to bellow about how divisive President Trump is. But the fact is that their politics of envy is fueled by ugly divisiveness.
The politics of envy exploits people who never take any responsibility for the decisions and choices they’ve made in their own lives and hands them someone else to blame.
It really is perverse.
And yet these two hateful cranks are the frontrunners in the Democrat primary.
—
Now Available!
Dianny’s latest ebook, RANT: Derangement & Resistance in MAGA Country, is now available for purchase. You can find it at Amazon, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook Store, and at Smashwords for only $4.99!
Hit the Tip Jar!
Every dollar makes a difference! Hit the DONATE button in the side bar. Or, set up a recurring monthly contribution by choosing SUBSCRIBE.
Please White List Patriot Retort
Not everyone can afford to make a donation. But you can still help keep this site solvent by white listing PatriotRetort.com in your ad blocker. Ads help pay for this site and ad-blockers hurt that effort. I made sure that the ads that appear here will not obstruct or interfere with your enjoyment of the content. So please add PatriotRetort.com to your white list.
Walter Williams wrote
No matter how worthy the cause it is robbery,theft,and injustice to confiscate
the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.
Both Sanders and Warren are so far off base as to what “Real Americans” want, they don’t stand a rats ass in hell of getting elected. Good riddance to bad actors.
For someone who tentatively claims to be Jewish (when it suits him) he sure does like to violate that pesky Tenth Commandment (Thou shall not covet). I wonder what Chief Panderbear Warren thinks about that commandment as well.
Is it too much to ask that the government, at every level, stays the hell out of my life and stops stealing so much of my money?
Because that is how the Founding Fathers set it up.
When a candidate uses ‘Socialism’ as a platform for their campaign they are using a ‘Sales Tool’. Sales tools are useful for targeted markets. They are used to increase market share.
By using the term socialism Bernie and Lizzie are luring inexperienced youthful types along with disaffected adults into their camp by the promise of more goodies if they support them and their platform of socialism. Problem is that there is no guarantee that socialism will work (as indicated by historical precedents) so the candidates have nothing to lose by making the promise. Like all failed socialist states, they will blame the fact that they did not socialize the system enough.
Have you ever bought a product or a car based on ‘promised’ performance? I am sure we all have at one time or another and for many of us, more than once. Thing is that you buy the premise but there are no guarantees. Even if they sell you with inflated notions of expectations, there is no way you can enforce their promises when the deal is done. You sign on the bottom line without any real proof that what you expect will happen. You are smitten by the sales pitch.
Older and wiser people realize there is no such thing as a free lunch as someone has to pay for it and eventually it will be your turn to do that. Inexperienced 20 somethings have not a clue as to how life really works. They are just not old enough nor have they had enough experience. It is a rare young person who ‘gets it’ when they are in their 20’s.
The attractive part of ‘socialism’ is the ideas of a kinder, fairer government. Thing about this is that government is by design an inefficient system of using money. The more you ask of it the more it wastes. These concepts are lost on those who are sold the premise of socialism. All they see are the free goodies and the reduction in their personal responsibilities that an enlarged nanny state would do for them.
So, when the word Socialism is bounced around, hide your wallets and don’t sign anything. The snake oil salesmen are back in town…
Want to cut government spending? Let’s start with $15/hr for Senators. And no more lifetime pensions, but a nice 401(k) like everyone else. Time to stop putting other people’s money where your mouth is, Bernie.