Class warfare, from Barack Obama to the streets of London
It is not much of a leap from the rhetoric of our president to the violence and looting that has beset Great Britain.
No, I don’t hold Barack Obama personally responsible for our rampaging cousins across the pond. And, no, I’m not referring to some anti-colonial feelings Obama supposedly harbors against the British, thanks to his Kenyan father.
But there is, at best, a blurry line between the belief of Obama and numerous left-wing administrations in Britain’s modern history and the kind of “thinking” evident in Britain’s rioting youth — that the earnings of one group of citizens by rights belong to someone else.
Consider what an unnamed girl told a BBC reporter to explain why she and others looted local shops:
“It’s the rich people. The rich people have got businesses, and that’s why all this has happened. We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want.”
We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want. And what they want is not to be paid more for working less, or anything else out of the anti-capitalist’s textbook. It’s extremely unlikely these girls have or want jobs, given their age and behavior: One generally doesn’t take a day off work to smash the windows of an off-track betting parlor and make off with its flat-screen televisions.
No, what they want is just to take what the rich people have.
And where could they have gotten such a notion? Try the ideology they’ve been spoon-fed since birth, just like their parents and, by this point, their parents’ parents.
I mean the ideology that the rich got their riches by taking it from, or making it off the backs of, the rest of us. And that someone — government — must make amends for this thievery.
Britons have a longer tradition of class warfare than Americans. We traditionally have enjoyed much more social mobility — and still do, according to studies that track individuals’ tax returns year by year (rather than simply comparing faceless income quintiles even though their membership changes).
Consequently, Britons have a longer and more extensive history of social-welfare programs designed to compensate for class divisions. The dreadful results of those programs have been on display by night in the streets of London, Birmingham and elsewhere in recent days.
It’s not just Britain, of course. Protests in Greece turned lethal last year when anarchists killed three people because they worked for a bank. It is a rite of passage for French students to take to the streets to support the rights of union workers — the same union workers whose stubbornness accounts for the inability of many of these students to find jobs while they’re still in their 20s.
But the American left has spent decades trying to catch up to the, ahem, achievements of its European counterparts. And no politician in recent times has tried harder than Obama to demonize “millionaires and billionaires” for withholding what they have earned from those who have not.
His talk of the rich’s “fair share” is intellectually bankrupt — no one can define the “fair share” beyond “whatever it takes to pay for what we want.” But it is also morally bankrupting for a society to take from one group in a way that consigns another group to crippling dependence.
Like many other human beliefs, this ideology seems to hold that its ends can be pursued up to a certain point, but not too far before society starts to unravel.
Once you’ve cast the rich as evil and redistribution as moral, however, what’s to stop the mob from acting on its own if the government doesn’t redistribute enough for the mob’s liking?
As we’ve seen in Britain this past week: Only the mob itself.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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245 comments Add your comment
Sarah
August 11th, 2011
5:43 am
Must be a pleasant view from your ivory tower.
Joel Edge
August 11th, 2011
5:58 am
“what’s to stop the mob from acting on its own if the government doesn’t redistribute enough for the mob’s liking?
And the answer: nothing.
Independent Myth
August 11th, 2011
6:04 am
Wow! what a leap! – oh millionaire / billionaire working for the AJC.
morty
August 11th, 2011
6:18 am
Once you’ve labeled the poor/proletariat class as parasites and social programs as immoral, however, what’s to stop the bourgeoisie/ruling class from cranking up their inhumanity to mankind.
Ronnie Raygun
August 11th, 2011
6:45 am
And advocating and enacting much lower tax rates for the investor class’s unearned income than the rates for wages earned through hard work somehow isn’t class warfare? Taxing all income at the same rates will go a long way toward everyone paying their “fair share.”
DeborahinAthens
August 11th, 2011
6:51 am
First, let me say I am blessed to be well off, and I have worked hard my whole life to get to this point. But the Right’s irrational stance on taxes makes me sick. There are things that government must do for the greater good of it’s citizens. Safety–police, firemen. Protection–National Guard, Navy, Army, Marines, Coast Guard. Infrastructure. Water. Roads. There are even some public/private research projects that would never be possible without funding from the government. Your insistence that lower taxes creates jobs has been proven not to be true–many times. Reagan’s “trickle down” economics were proven not to work. When Clinton’s tax brackets went into effect we had eight years of relative prosperity with a 5.2 (full employment) unemployment number. These are all stats that can be checked out. So why do you Rightwingers keep trying to make this a case of wealth envy? I am watching the Prime Minister of GB on the TV right now. One of the major causes of the riots? The lack of sufficient police because of the budget cutbacks. Because I am blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, I don’t mind paying my taxes. And, while not knowing what your salary is, Kyle, I would hazard a guess that I pay more in taxes than you do. I told everyone that would listen that the Bush tax cuts would turn us into a Banana Republic (this was before the wars)and they have. I want my country back. And, no, Kyle, I don’t envy your wealth.
jconservative
August 11th, 2011
6:56 am
“But it is also morally bankrupting for a society to take from one group in a way that consigns another group to crippling dependence.”
Interesting sentence.
Are you referring to the oil companies testimony before Congress that they cannot give up the government subsidies they receive for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico? Do the oil companies now have a “crippling dependence” on government subsidies? They can no longer drill in the Gulf without government welfare? Their testimony would say yes. And Norquist would claim that removing the subsidy would constitute a “tax increase”.
And millions of wage earners do not pay tax. Like ExxonMobil they are dependent on government. Try to change that and Norquist would say that is a tax increase.
And everyone signed a pledge not to raise taxes, right?
The Welfare State by any other name is still a Welfare State. Those who fear the US may become a “socialist society” are 80 years to late. It is here, alive, and well.
So we have everyone from the ExxonMobil to the lowest wage earner dependent on government welfare.
And people are still scratching their head and trying to figure out how to get rid of a soon to be $15 trillion National Debt.
Skip
August 11th, 2011
6:56 am
Looks like it’s a little early for the ruling class to be up.
Worthington
August 11th, 2011
7:18 am
WWJD?
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 11th, 2011
7:38 am
If only the peasants and serfs would learn their place! Isn’t that what you really mean, Kyle. And, where are those studies you speak of regarding class mobility and how wunnerful it is here in the US. Were those studies funded by a hedge fund manager or perhaps the Koch brothers. After all, we all know that everyone can be a billionaire and that’s what we should all aspire to be and we can make it happen by simply eliminating the government and its socialist policies. Right Kyle. Tell us what you really think, Kyle. Tell us all about your concept of fairness.
carlosgvv
August 11th, 2011
7:43 am
When Obama talks about the rich paying their fair share, he means ending the Bush-era tax cuts to the wealthy. Oh yes Kyle, that definitely is the kind of rhetoric that will cause riots!!!
HadIt
August 11th, 2011
7:46 am
So tell me, just how many jobs did Joseph Cassano create?
Dumb and Dumber
August 11th, 2011
7:51 am
Wow. What an intellectually dishonest (and hopelessly partisan) statement:
“It is not much of a leap from the rhetoric of our president to the violence and looting that has beset Great Britain”
Maybe, just maybe, the riots and unrest in Britain have little or nothing to do with what Obama says or does. Not everything that goes wrong in the world is America’s fault, regardless of who occupies the White House.
One story you will never see on Kyle’s blog is the interesting claim by a GOP Congressman (Tom Graves) and GOP State Senator (Chip Rogers) that the million dollar loan they defaulted on “is the bank’s fault for making the loan” in the first place. No problem with that? I seem to recall that when the mortgage crisis hit high gear lots of Republicans were decrying the lack of personal responsibility by those people (i.e., democrats, no doubt) who walked away from the variable interest mortgages.
So is personal responsibility a concept that does not apply to elected Republicans? But Obama has to watch what he says because soon we will have riots here in America … just like he caused in Britain?
retired early
August 11th, 2011
7:56 am
The mortgage interest deduction promotes homeownership. Many more middle class families can afford to own, thanks to the deduction. What it should not have become is a massive tax shelter for the wealthy Americans who never needed the “extra” help in order to buy a home. Coupled with the additional deduction on 2rd homes, this exempt interest, alone, is the main reason the wealthy pay less taxes.
Kyle,
I have no wealth envy. I have a question. Please explain/justify the mortgage interest deduction that is “unlimited” is “fair”. Let the top tax rate be 29% ( even though they average paying 18%) but limit the mortgage interest deduction to homes $500,000 or less.
Give me ANY reason this major tax break should remain “unlimited”.
Tommy Maddox
August 11th, 2011
8:03 am
I had no idea that the Redistributees got up so early.
DebbieDoRight
August 11th, 2011
8:03 am
Kyle: Consequently, Britons have a longer and more extensive history of social-welfare programs designed to compensate for class divisions. The dreadful results of those programs have been on display by night in the streets of London, Birmingham and elsewhere in recent days.
I never thought this before, but now I truly believe you are a fool Kyle. It’s one thing to parrot the repugniclan line of “We Hate Obama — We’ll make sure he fails”; but it’s another thing to try and correlate Britan’s problems with Obama AND “class warfare”.
What was the catalyst for the riots? Why not ask some of the PEOPLE affected, NOT one of your repugniclan mouthpieces…..
The killing by police last week of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black man from the London neighborhood of Tottenham, has been widely credited with setting off the flood of outrage that led to the riots. “That was the catalyst, and residing in the catalyst is the cause,” Howe aid. “And the cause was the constant stopping and searching of young blacks.”
Now you know Kyle. Now, I’m waiting for all your and your party’s ignorant elite to start harping on everything (a)black (b) homosexual (c) any other color but white and any other sex but male; tirades. It’s what people like you do, forever instigating insurrection by throwing their verbal rocks and hiding their hands behind their flag pins and their psuedo religion.
Perhaps instead of instigating “class warfare” LIES, you can hold a Young Republicans Rally at the nearest Recruitment Center. Let’s see how many people show up.
DebbieDoRight
August 11th, 2011
8:04 am
Oh and that would be the MILITARY Recruitment Center. Not recruitment for the morally and fiscally bankrupt.
Phil's Tel-A-Gramm
August 11th, 2011
8:04 am
Kyle,
What does a person have to do to earn, all on his own and not off the backs of others, $480,000 per hour and what would be a fair tax, income and payroll, to impose on such a wage. In your mind, a fair tax would be zero. Am I right.
JohnnyReb
August 11th, 2011
8:12 am
Kyle, great piece. The best way to fix the class warfare is for every wage earner to pay some Federal Income Tax. None of this taxes taken out on payday but all given back or more in April. If every wage earner had to pay income tax, the rolls of us against the parasites would grow rapidly. There would be no stronger medicine than a minimum wage earner having to pay for useless neighbors for fixing the problem.
that's goofy
August 11th, 2011
8:14 am
“It is not much of a leap from the rhetoric of our president to the violence and looting that has beset Great Britain.”
With a statement that stupid I should’ve stopped reading. Fortunately I kept reading because I was rewarded with this nugget:
“But there is, at best, a blurry line between the belief of Obama and numerous left-wing administrations in Britain’s modern history and the kind of “thinking” evident in Britain’s rioting youth”
If by blurry line you meant giant mountain range then you are spot on.
and then the cherry on top:
“It’s the rich people. The rich people have got businesses, and that’s why all this has happened. We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want.”
A quote from a hooligan. Awesome.
I cannot believe this is what passes as Conservative Opinion material at the AJC. The reasoned intelligence of William F. Buckley, Jr has been replaced with fear and personal attacks. Columnist appeal to the village idiots. The more outlandish the statement the more people will respond. The more people respond the more money the media company makes.
Name
August 11th, 2011
8:14 am
Dennis Moore
Dennis Moore
Riding through the land
Dennis Moore
Dennis Moore
Without a merry band
He steals from the rich
And gives to the poor
Dennis Moore!
*hmm hmm hmmmmmmmmmm*
Not Blind
August 11th, 2011
8:20 am
Britain is reaping the crop they sowed via stupid immigration policies. The USA is making the same mistakes and will eventually reap the same rewards. The real class warfare is between the hyphenated Brits [ or Americans ] and the non-hyphenated Brits [ Americans ]. If a western country needs to grow their population they should encourage the non-hyphenated citizens to have more babies instead of importing immigrants that have no loyalty to the country.
Call it like it is
August 11th, 2011
8:21 am
Just read that business owners in the UK are now protecting their buildings by putting up HELP WANTED signs on their door. The kids run away in a panic when they see them.
Butch A.
August 11th, 2011
8:23 am
Well, Kyle, looks like you are taking quite a hit on this one.
Streetracer
August 11th, 2011
8:28 am
I’m not a psycologist (probably can’t even spell it right) but seems to me that it is a whole lot farther from I’m responsible for my destiny to somebody will give me what I need than it is to the next step, which is I can take whatever I want.
JohnnyReb
August 11th, 2011
8:29 am
The best way to stop the riots in Britian is real bullets.
Everyone deserves the right of peaceful protest. No one has the right to destroy someelses property, and when not responding to police the thug deserves a head crack or if necessary a bullet in the butt. A few of those and they would all run home to momma.
jj
August 11th, 2011
8:29 am
So sorry that Kyle is not entitled to his OPINION. Isn’t it time for all the lefties to run to the feet of Bookman now.
Hummon
August 11th, 2011
8:31 am
This the most strawman-packed piece of conservative writing I’ve ever seen in this paper (and that’s saying something, given the years of Jim Wooten), but I have no time to rebut it. I have to get back to telling my children that the rich are thieves. You know, like we liberals always do.
Ayn Rant
August 11th, 2011
8:32 am
Kyle, you gloat over the rioting in the UK as the inevitable result of “coddling” the poor, and see it a warning that we should expect similar results if Americans don’t dismantle the sparse, minimal social support that we provide to the disabled, the elderly, and the poor.
We should consider a deeper reason why a few hundred poor youths in London revert to primitive behavior. Those young people enjoy access to social services like good schools, hassle-free health care, and excellent welfare, unemployment, and retirement benefits. They are privileged to live in a vibrant, sophisticated world center for business, humanities, and the arts. What more do they need?
Perhaps they need to be “needed”. Britain leads all nations in the trend toward a service society rather than a production society. Britain’s principal exports are “intangibles” like financial services, literature, science, and music. Creative, intelligent, talented, and motivated people drive the modern British economy; ordinary people are relegated to unchallenging service jobs like stocking store shelves, waiting tables, and cleaning office buildings. Unfortunately, there are more ordinary people, especially ethnic minorities, than needed to serve the elite. What does Britain do with the excess? Offers them access to good social services and tells them to piss off, of course.
We follow closely behind Britain in the move away from production to services. Our business and financial sectors recovered quickly from the Bush II recession, but poor Americans have not, and are not likely to recover from unemployment and household debt. We simply have more Americans than our private enterprises and our governments need. We have a couple of expensive tricks for soaking up some of the excess: 5 million Americans are serving in our military or are incarcerated in our prisons. We could put them on welfare for half the cost!
The need for people is declining as our private sector modernizes and expands. Apple is now the biggest American company in terms of business value. Apple employs only 27,000 Americans; their electronic products are manufactured in Asia. By contrast, Boeing, a less valuable company, employs 165,000 Americans in manufacturing. The darlings of Silicon Valley, Facebook, Twitter, and Google employ very few Americans; their intangible products run on Asian-manufactured electronics.
So, modern Britain and modern US have a lot of unneeded people on welfare. Most of the welfare population wastes away quietly watching bad television, eating unhealthy food, and taking dangerous drugs. Occasionally some rambunctious youths in London or Los Angeles have themselves a little fun by burning and looting. They can’t go out and get a job: there aren’t any jobs for them!
So, what does it take to keep the lid on the primitive instincts of the unneeded: Starvation, imprisonment, or more welfare? Think seriously about it!
kayaker 71
August 11th, 2011
8:35 am
Class warfare wins elections. Telling he have nots that the haves are evil and non-concerned will win you votes from your base every time. Especially if that’s all you have. It’s come down to that. All Bozo has left is name calling, pitting one group against another and lies. He has no programs that have produced a damn thing. Just lies and rhetoric.
George P. Burdell
August 11th, 2011
8:38 am
Retired early,
The mortgage deduction is limited to $1 million in interest. It is also further limited by the AMT but that can vary greatly from person to person.
brad
August 11th, 2011
8:39 am
“The best way to stop the riots in Britian is real bullets.”
Thanks for demonstrating the the right’s moral values, JReb. And thanks to you, Kyle, for giving him the platform to do so.
JohnnyReb
August 11th, 2011
8:42 am
So brad, you think its “moral” to stand by and watch gangs destroy other peoples property. They are criminals and deserve to be treated as such.
joe
August 11th, 2011
8:44 am
It’s too bad that americans are content whining on the internet. If Americans had the motivation to go out and take back what WE earned people like you wouldn’t be around to spew pyramid scam propaganda.
ATLBadger
August 11th, 2011
8:45 am
Just when I think I can’t possibly read worse drivel from this joke of a newspaper….
Personally, I think newspapers across the country should get rid of almost all opinion writers and just hire a couple of guests from different perspectives from time to time on important issues. If I want to read irrelevant opinion pieces, I’ll just go to the National Review or The Nation online. I don’t even want to click on these, but the AJC insists on putting some sort of awe inducing link headline on the homepage and I can’t help but click. It’s like watching a trainwreck…
Not Blind
August 11th, 2011
8:45 am
Ayn Rant, when one of the prison releasee’s you seek sticks a gun bbl in your stomach and demands your wallet you may develop a different mindset towards the criminal element we have.
JohnnyReb
August 11th, 2011
8:45 am
brad, do you think the gun and ammo sales that skyrocketed with Obama’s election was all “collectors?” If the Britian crap starts here, there will be real bullets flying and they won’t all be from police.
MiltonMan
August 11th, 2011
8:47 am
Funning no one mentions the anti-gun laws that UK imposes. Arm the law-abiding citizens to protect their homes & businesses & these riots would end rather quickly.
Here in America, you see violent Flash Mobs in areas of strict gun control – Philly, Wisconsin, etc. I would like to see a flash mob in North Fulton. I would gladly introduce them to Mr. Smith & Wesson.
saywhat?
August 11th, 2011
8:48 am
Liberal policy is the cause of all evil in the world, right Kyle? It caused the riots in England just like it caused Susan Smith to murder her children, just ask Newt Gingrich.
Stonethrower
August 11th, 2011
8:49 am
Newsflash! A greater percentage of the “wealthy” voted for Mr. Obama than Mr. Mccain during the last election. There is no classs warfare. It’s just something we makeup to further drive a wedge between us.
Kramer
August 11th, 2011
8:51 am
Ah yes, liberalism sure works doesn’t it? Just look at Great Britain and the US as great examples of how liberal politics and practices work in a capitalistic society. Take from the succesful and give to those who do not want to succeed rather, they want to be fed and housed and now want cell phones. Obama make Carter look better and better every week and that in itself is damn amazing considering what Carter did as President.
Laura
August 11th, 2011
8:51 am
Judging by the overall tone of comments responding to Wingfield’s rant, it sounds to me like Wingfield should remove the silver spoon from his mouth and run like hell. Rioting will begin in the US when austerity measures are inacted (just like Greece), and the power elite will squeeze the middle class so that those in power remain that way with fat wallets. Unlike the Brit’s, Americans have plenty of guns and ammo to stoke a revolution.
saywhat?
August 11th, 2011
8:51 am
Milton man “Funning no one mentions the anti-gun laws that UK imposes. Arm the law-abiding citizens to protect their homes & businesses & these riots would end rather quickly”
Until you realize how many rioters were law abiding citizens until they rioted. Do their guns magically disappear when they decide NOT to be law abiding?
Aquagirl
August 11th, 2011
9:00 am
I’ve never seen so many rich white guys opine as to what’s in the head of an unemployed minority thug. Y’all are skeered out of your Dockers, huh?
This is REAL class warfare people. When the have-nots become completely disconnected from the haves, society collapses. We see this over and over in history. The underclass MUST feel that there is a way up for them. Providing basic sustenance living and letting people occasionally clean your gold-plated toilet is not the answer.
Before this recession, Americans really did feel that their kids would be better off then them, if you did certain things (went to college, worked hard, etc.) there was a good chance you could live the American dream. Who feels like that now? There is a growing perception the middle class is screwed, and that there is an elitist group of rich doing whatever the h3ll they want.
Yep, enjoy the twilight of the Republic, folks. And don’t forget your daily lesson in Mandarin.
Check these stats
August 11th, 2011
9:00 am
“We’re just showing the rich people we can do what we want.” Substitute rich for poor and that statement could describe the bank bailout.
“The class war has been fought, and my class won.” – Warren Buffett
What a childish article, but what would one expect coming from a child-like individual. Any true journalist would be obligated to point out the tax breaks and subsidies corporations get. Hell, GA has one of the lowest tax rates in the country and still have to offer tax incentives to companies to move here. Even though the state has no idea about the cost-effectiveness of said incentives.
Rob Woodall gets free government healthcare. Why?
August 11th, 2011
9:02 am
Don’t complicate things.
The looters want free TVs. And Rob Woodall wants free government healthcare for himself, and not you but you already knew that.
bookman parrot
August 11th, 2011
9:05 am
I see Cynthia is leaving the AJC to go pollute minds at UGA. I guess she figures she can push the lib agenda further there.
Samantha
August 11th, 2011
9:05 am
It is so unfortunate that what is going on in Europe will soon happen here. The gap betwen the rich and the poor is getting larger and larger. The middle class people are getting to the point of being completely evaporated in this country. The rich are getting richer and the poor seem to be getting poorer. That is so sad and it’s a bad situation. Hopefully things will change soon.
Sid Farcas
August 11th, 2011
9:06 am
To all you whinning on here about what Kyle wrote, GROW UP! The article is based on facts and I know you libs treat the truth like a vampire treats a cross, you look away in horror. These punks over there really believe what they are looting they deserve. Sort of like the liberal punks here who want to have it handed to them becuase it is there “right”. Only thing here is our punks have people in the WH and the Congress who want to hand it to them. At least until 2012.
Buzz G
August 11th, 2011
9:07 am
“All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Well, were I one of those shop owners, my 357 magnum would have been doing something. Evil would not triumph.