sleepingbeauty said:
its nice to live in a dream world where the playing field is equal and everyone has a fair chance of success. dont forget that 99% of the successful and affluent got that way with a silverspoon stuck up their ass.
I'd say that is just as bigoted as making a generalization of conservatives and liberals.
Personal Story A:
My maternal grandfather was a train engineer (i.e. repairman for the rails) and my grandmother a mother of three and a housekeeper. There was a point when times were so bad that they worked as handyman and housekeeper resepctively for a wealthy family. They had no college educations, they spoke German and learned English on thier own.
They had little money to speak of. Of the three children, my mother was the only child to get a college education which she got on scholarship. She became a doctor. She managed her money very well. She was not dripping in money when she died, but I did grow up in the Upper Middle Class... no competition to the Fords, i.e. the Henry Fords and family who streamed through my private school. They were THE UPPER CLASS. My parents as medical professionals didn't come near the income of that class.
My father was born in a tiny town in Ohio at the turn of the century. Parents, poor school teachers who also owned a general store.
Four children. One son became a playwright, died young. One son became a career military man. The daughter in the family became a housewife. My father received a scholarship to University and subsequently medical school and became a doctor. He was the most succesful person in the family. My father had severe OCD and lost his money.
My mother, thank God, was able to be financially independent, a taxpayer of course. She of course was also abusive, but that's beside the point.
My life, if you want to call it that had a lot of silver spoons in it. But a lot of struggle. I was still able, despite my mental illness, to complete a B.A. and an M.A. and if I weren't disabled I would have continued my career in the "corrupt entertainment industry" -- I suppose I would have been a closet conservative, LOL. I would have made a decent living. I'm now in a real shit mess. But I don't consider my friends who have been succesful in many fields to have gotten to such places without hard work. And their careers are varied and admirable. Professionals to those with vocations. Human beings, struggling with everyday problems. Some with serious problems.
Personal story B:
My husband's Uncle A. and Aunt F. They were poor/Jewish (hence discriminated against)/in the early 1900s. No college education, either of them. Because they lived through the depression, in true poverty, they were extremely careful with their money. This is a tendency of people who lived through the Depression.
Uncle A. was a machinist. A factory worker his whole life. Aunt F. was a secretary. They had two children who are now in their fifties, and there are granchildren. One of Uncle A. was a proud WWII Veteran. Front line. Fighting in Germany. An American Jew against the Nazis. (Sounds like a soap opera I made up, but it's true). The two were also socialists. My husband's father (Jewish) -- a communist.
At any rate, Uncle A. and Aunt F. took their lives into their own hands. Worked as hard as Hell their whole lives, took care of two kids, both while working. They were very careful with their money, their investments.
Uncle A. died of cancer about... 6 years ago.
Aunt F. can live comfortably on over 3 million dollars, which is earning interest, so she will not be a burden on anyone, even if she has to go into a nursing home. They were taxed, once they became wealthy at the highest income tax bracket. That money was hard-earned, fought for, and well managed. By a man who had no college education, came from a hated minority at the time (perhaps still hated), lived in poverty, he lived "the American Dream" and was a distinguished war veteran.
Dare I mention that Kerry is extremely wealthy, not merely by his own family wealth, but in his marriage to the heiress to the Heinz ketchup empire. Kerry is no poorer than George W. and they're both a helluva lot better off than most of us here. BOth of them went to Yale.
What is wrong with this?
No, we are not all equal, we never have been. But being wealthy doesn't mean someone didn't work for it. And someone is supposed to be guilty if old wealth is passed down.
And, if I may say, entertainers in Hollywood, and sports stars earn an obscene amount of money, regardless of their backgrounds. Many are philanthropists, many are not.
How can one decide that an actor is worth millions, or these sports players, millions of millions, I can't even think of the figures ... and yet a secretary, or a plumber, or a doctor, or a businessman, or an attorney is worth less.
Just a few thoughts.
Again, about generalizations.
There are nasty rich people and there are nasty poor people.
There are decent conservatives and decent liberals.
There are nasty conservatives and there are nasty liberals.
That statement is truly .... again bigoted.
I'm not saying capitalism is a system better than any other. All social/economic systems have plusses and minus'.
And, I hate to say this, but did any of us get to select what family we were born into, what COUNTRY. Why in God's name does someone have to apologize for being a wealthy American, a poor American, a wealthy British Monarch, or a poor working class Brit.
This completely ignores the complexity of human existence. And it's only the beginning ... this is again like saying, all black kids are gang members and murderers... we start going into the deepest ugliest stereotypes from here.
In the spirit of debate,
But with frustration,
Peace,
D
