Why Attack The Have nots?

The following is the text of an email to a conservative op Ed piece that lectured about the immorality of entitlements and the smugness of a person who still has a job and despises those who don't: Have you ever been to Del Paso Heights? Have you wandered into South Central L.A. lately? Your article was very well done and brilliant by the way. It summarized the conservative rich attitude very well, “I’ve got mine, work hard like I did and you can get yours”. The other two articles on the Sacramento Bee’s opinion page you shared, were excellent also. Mr. Brooks summarized the limitations of government, both in stimulating the economy AND in aiding the less fortunate. Paul Krugman, of course, criticized your position as leaning more into the uncaring and cynical. This conversation is exciting, and interesting especially for us political science types. What is it not however, is constructive to a safe, sane and peaceful society. When economies are countries are stressed, inevitably debates begin about the haves and have nots, about the distribution of resources, about work ethic; etc. And, if those debates get mean enough and angry enough, actual conflict including wars develop. America has not been immune from this. The Civil War was essentially over have-nots (slaves) and what to do with a system that immensely rewarded the haves. After a bloody conflict, that saw almost 1 in 10 Americans either wounded or dead, the argument was “temporarily” settled. And now we are having a similar argument. The haves are basically saying that they are “sick and tired” of having part of the “hard earned” wealth go to the have nots. And, of course, they are couching their arguments in “moral terms” as you did in your article: work is good for your, hard work is uplifting; ie., moral. And then Jesus walks into the room. I am sure you are a Christian. How do you reconcile your beliefs with Christian charity? How do you reconcile your “the poor are soft, lazy and basically deserve what they get” with Christ’s famous “the least of these”? Oh, I know, I know, you simply might interpret the Bible differently, Jesus really didn’t mean that; etc. But there are scores of references in the Bible supporting the moral view that Christians should love their neighbor, love god, show mercy, work for JUSTICE and walk humbly with God. As we continue this “great debate” remember that it may culminate in something that is awful for America, as we tear each other apart. For years, after WWII, the rich reluctantly paid their taxes, that yes, on one level were unfair. But, the spector of WWII and the Great Depression was still fresh in their mind. The wealthy had veered close to socialism with the New Deal, and had seen the world almost destroyed, so paying a 90% marginal tax rate, while still getting fabulously wealthy, seemed a good deal. Here is the danger: The rich in Germany threw their support behind Hitler, to counter socialism’s threat to their capitalism. They backed his non-egalitarian ways and hatreds, and stood in shock as the country was literally destroyed both morally and physically. They won the debate, built their munitions factories, made lots of money, and were bombed into oblivion. That is where our “conversation” can take us as well. Just as in 1850, the problem that has made us get into this debate will not go away. Brooks says this well in his article; government cannot cure recessions or depressions. What government can do is mitigate them so that the ugly genie stays in the bottle, and social, political and economic conflicts over haves and have-nots don’t spill over into war. Roosevelt knew that; that is why he worked so hard to reform within capitalism. He could have become a dictator you know. His greatness was not in what he did to grow government, it was he didn’t do. The country then, like now, was scared, and was ready to renounce democracy for a “quick fix”. What social welfare programs do is keep that genie in the bottle, and give the economy time to recover. What social welfare programs do is care for the least of these. You know of course that most beneficiaries, and a majority of the poor are children (who can’t work, oh I forgot, child labor laws are "excessive regulation"). That is what we are playing with right now. As your party swings harder to the right, you are entering the field of fascism plain and simple: not national socialism, but a new brand of American fascism. The implications for democracy are not good. Please rethink your hard edged philosophy. Think of the Book of Matthew, and realize that the peace of our country depends on it. Fascism, even a "constitutional" variety will always destroy democracy and human freedom. Stop the hatred of the poor.