Mitt Romney and the “Politics of Envy”

Posted on February 9, 2012 in Campaign 2012 Class

My city consists of a variety of economic communities. In my neighborhood alone, we have one bedroom condos, two bedrooms, townhouses, regular houses, and fine mansions on the hill. What you don’t see is the condo owners griping about the better circumstances of the people with the best houses. Most of us accept our fate. We don’t necessarily feel life is unlivable without a mansion. That, I dare say, is a fault of the weathiest of the wealthy.

Yet when we complain about the way the wealthy have manipulated our Supreme Court and our Congress to serve their ends above ours, we are accused of “envying” the wealthy. Let’s evaluate this:

• They don’t like it because we feel that everyone should have a vote. Wanting a vote for every citizen is envy. Only the rich should have a vote.
• They don’t like it because we feel that our office holders should care most about the people they represent and serve, not some plutocrat with a huge checkbook living in a distant state. Wanting fair representation is envy. Only the rich should have audiences with these.
• They have apoplexy when we declare that we want a say in what happens in our neighborhood. Saying that we want to control the quality of the air and the water that we breathe and that we drink is envy. Clean air and clear water is only for the rich.
• They don’t like it because we want health insurance for everyone. Giving everyone access to a doctor when they are sick is envy. Only the rich deserve to prolong their lives.
• They don’t like it that we can talk about our grievances and organize using the Internet. Having easy access to one’s peers is envy. The rich should control who gets to say what on the Internet.
• They don’t like our calls for a fair tax rate for those who gain wealth by stock market manipulations or the luck of having wealthy parents rather than hard work and the production of goods made in America. Only the rich deserve to have money.

Fairness is always envy in their book. Never mind that they envy gods and do everything they can to ensure that they become like them.

Mitt Romney stands for the top 1%. He appeals to those of the 99% who think they might become part of the 1%. Look, he hints. “They want what you have. They want your house, your car, your swimming pool. They will take it away from you if you don’t vote for me.”

He is another agent of the politics of Fear, as insidious as the Tea Party who he appeases.

And this message makes him the most divisive politician in America today, more than the racialists and faux libertarians. He is at best, no better than them. He represents greed and lies.