Raising the Issue: Promoting ?Envy? or Simple Fairness?

Okay John, let me get this straight. ?envy? really means ?wrongfully desiring and trying to acquire.? I guess I?ll buy that. Where I lose you is when you make the remarkable philosophical leap to the conclusion that the enormous wealth controlled by America?s economic elite is all the byproduct of entrepreneurial effort, hard work and creativity and therefore wholly proper and not in any way ?wrongful.?

While this argument is not entirely without merit ? I see no problem with a system that richly rewards geniuses like Gates ? you can?t be seriously arguing that all members of the nation?s moneyed class are creative, hard working entrepreneurs. To the contrary, a huge proportion are, in effect, modern aristocrats who did nothing to earn the fabulous wealth that they enjoy beyond surviving childbirth. In a similar vein, millions of Americans who do work hard and exhibit enormous creativity remain mired in the economic doldrums because the system is rigged to favor those with wealth and power.

To me, this trend is in direct contravention of the early American ideal that each person should rise or fall largely as a result of his or her own intelligence and drive and not as a result of inherited wealth. Wasn?t the idea of the revolution to get rid of a permanent aristocratic class? To this end, wouldn?t it make sense to reinstate larger and stronger inheritance taxes that prevent the accumulation of vast sums of inherited wealth?

As for the polling data you cite, I do not quarrel with your conclusion that Americans remain a largely optimistic bunch. It is one of our greatest strengths. It is that very optimism to which Kerry and Edwards are attempting to tap in. I believe they want Americans to realize that we have the ability to collectively and intentionally impact the economic environment in which we live. Rather than being pessimistic slaves to an ?invisible hand? that we cannot see or control, we have the capacity to harness that ?hand? and make it work for a much greater proportion of the population than is currently benefiting.