That shalt covet
In the continuing press effort to turn people against Romney because he’s rich, here’s the latest effort.
If the first few comments there are any indication, though, it seems that the article isn’t resonating with its target audience.
Neo, where are the comments? I didn’t find any comments to that article. Have you read at Hillbuzz that Obama’s banker friends have purchased a $35 million home in Hawaii for the Obama’s to live in for January 2013?
Was there ever a candidate in the history of politics with a real estate portfolio nicer than that of John Edwards of John Kerry? EVER? This class warfare BS has got to be the biggest MSM hypocrisy going at the moment.
In other words, Barack Obama is a man of little accomplishment.
Funny how the article fails to mention the Rezko involvement. It’s always sanitized.
Kelly two: the comments are below the article. When I last looked, there were over six thousand.
Now, that’s a comments section. Get cracking, folks! 🙂
“Get cracking, folks!”
OK, but I only second the Rezko comment from Rose.
I would have made a similar comment at that Yahoo page, but I won’t be registering with them to do so.
Neo, I love your reference to the Commandments. P.J. O’Rourke’s talk on the 10 commandments is priceless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYHmqGK_2S0
My wife was talking with a neighbor who works for a Huge Corporation. He is obsessed with how much the CEO makes. I calculated the additional pay per employee if the CEO made nothing. The bottom line was the price of a modest dinner out ($60). I’ve never understood this obsession as if someone was taking out of your pocket.
Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, … The wisdom of ages is rejected by the superior egos of contemporary humans.
Neo,
You note that the attempt to disparage seems to fall on deaf ears. The clue is in the George Patton (George C. Scott) solioquy where he states that “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser!”
The point that simply does not resonate with the “covet thy neighbors’ goods” left is that many people see the Romneys, Jack Welchs, and Steve Jobs (etc.) as heros, not as robber barons. This respect for success is, IMO, especially true when those individuals have created their wealth themselves, rather than having simply married into it, or won the lottery.
IMO the great majority of people recognize that this speaks to the possibility which is the American dream.
The left does do this (e.g., George Soros, Sean Penn, george Clooney) but only when they see the wealthy as sharing their own political ideology, so it has more to do with a political outlook, than a respect for wealth, i.e., hypocrisy.
In Europe, and in the Left’s view of the world, yes, folks are born into one class and rarely move upward (a young gal named Kate being the exception perhaps).
But, I think the majority of Americans don’t envy others their wealth because unlike those on the left most Americans do not see themselves as being assigned to one “class” without the possibility of upward mobility. (although it is funny how most Americans, when pressed, will most likely call themselves “middle-class” regards of how much or how little money they have).
The MSM and the Democrats are hoping that there might be enough brainwashed voters who truly do believe that the wealthy “stole” their money to sway the election.
Americans also understand “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations”. If you don’t work your behind off, you don’t get to keep the wealth of your ancestors. Except for the Kennedys it seems. But I’m waiting and hoping that one day Massachusetts will be rid of them.
“But I’m waiting and hoping that one day Massachusetts will be rid of them. [the Kennedys]”
For Heaven’s sake don’t send ’em to Texas!
To covet is the root of all evil. People may covet any number of things, but the left covets power above all else. They are Golems seeking the one ring of power to give them dominion over others; and it corrupts nearly every aspect of their lives.
How do we begin to covet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f33ieCWRWlI
Talk about mixing metaphors, “Golems seeking the one ring of power”!!
Last I looked, Obama’s rich. AND he gets to spend my money and your money too!
“Power is the politician’s paycheck. Power gets politicians all the good things money can buy and plenty of other things as well. Businessmen work for money because money gives them mastery over their own lives. Politicians work for power because power gives them mastery over the lives of others.”
P.J.O’Rourke
Paul in Boston,
Its still a free country so I feel free to mix metaphors freely. 😉
BTW, they are all lustful, coveting Golems.
Meanwhile, the Left weenies never say a Word about John Kerry, Gigolo Extraordinaire: who married one stunningly wealthy woman worth over $300 million, then dropped her like a hot rock when he met Ketchup Heiress Te – RAY – za, who is worth well over $700 million (or according to the LA Times, as much as $3.2 BILLION dollars).
Romney? $190 to $250 million, most of it held in blind trusts, and ALL of it earned by him; not by his wife’s family. He is very wealthy, but he’s a piker compared to Leftist Billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg.
Peeps, I hate to break it to you, but “Thou shalt not covet” isn’t an anti-capitalist commandment. Actually, I think you’re going to love this, and it’s good ammo against those Commie Bible-haters who all of a sudden turn into Bible-thumpers when it suits them.
I once asked my rabbi (Orthodox of course–the American “brands” have little to no presence in Israel) if wanting to buy, fair and square with honest money, no foul play involved, a house that is just as magnificent as your neighbor’s is a violation of the commandment. He replied that it isn’t; that, to be in violation of the commandment, you have to wish to acquire the very same house your neighbor has.
So, while company acquisitions (like Digital *gulp* Compaq *gulp* HP) might be a problem, striving to be a global empire (like Microsoft) isn’t, per se.
Boy am I just frackin’ tired of those who think Judaism is nothing but an ancient predecessor of Marxism…
ziontruth: I always thought it self-evident that “thou shalt not covet” meant you shouldn’t want what your neighbor has, not that you shouldn’t want its equivalent if you work for it by the sweat of your brow, or if someone happens to give it to you. It’s about the mean-spirited spite that wants whatever it can’t have, the “grass is always greener” sort of envy.