Friday, July 11, 2008

Kinsley's class warfare

Against Clinton donors?
Barack Obama has refused $84 million of government money for the fall campaign because he believes he can raise more privately. For the Democrats to find it easier than the Republicans to raise money is a recent development, and a somewhat inspiring one. Affluent people who give to the Republican Party are advancing their own class interests, whereas those who give to the Democrats generally aren't. This suggests an admirable seriousness about their giving. On the other hand, if they go off in a snit when their candidate loses the nomination, that will suggest that they aren't really in this out of progressive passion--they just find politics an amusing hobby, like racehorses or yachts.
"Class interests"? What the hell is this, Victorian England? And might I point out that Michael Kinsley has never lived in cardboard box under a bridge: And why should the "affluent," alone among all categories of Americans, foreswear the advancement of their own interests? Why is the $2 million property owner condemned as selfish for advancing his interests, whereas the $160,000-a-year labor union officer is regarded as a noble humitarian?

I have never understood people like Kinsley -- born to privilege, sent to the best schools in the country, fast-tracked into prestigious careers, and then spend their entire adult lives under the impression that they are uniquely endowed with empathy toward the downtrodden.

Has Kinsley ever actually talked to any of the downtrodden? Has he got some "Dickie Flatt" of his acquaintance whom he uses as a barometer of underclass attitudes? Did it ever even occur to Kinsley that his politics-as-charity model is profoundly flawed, that perhaps government giveaway programs are not the best means of aiding the (putatively) oppressed?

Fuck Michael Kinsley and fuck the Harvard-educated horse he rode in on.

1 comment:

  1. Y, you always hear this kind of BS from jerks like Kinsley and esp. the Hollywood trolls like Streisand; but they never put THEIR money where their mouth is, they want the govt to take everyone else's money to redistribute. Of course, when the Dummocrats do take office and raise taxes, these blowhards all move their money offshore or invest in munis and avoid the levies that they advocated. Here's a link to a story about A.O. Sulzberger (limosine liberal publisher of NY Times) engaging in some tax avoidance of his own:
    http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2008/20080304155318.aspx
    I agree, FU Kinsley, you're just one reason there's more horse's asses than there are horses in this world.

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