Free ride

Ever since I have been old enough to vote I realized that the foundation of the Democratic Party was based on the redistribution of wealth. They were the party of the poor since their programs were designed to take money from those who have a lot and give it to those who have less. It always struck me as tending toward socialism since the Marx manifesto states, from each according to his means, to each according to his needs. In any event I was at a loss to explain why any Republican would ever be elected since there have always been many more poor people than rich.

In the mid 70’s I saw the results of a poll that cleared this up for me. It said that 70% of people considered themselves as middle class and another 20% thought they would move up to middle class. These were people who were more interested in earning their own way up the ladder than having some government just provide them with the extras.

People were comfortable with this as long as they felt that there was a basic fairness operating throughout the system. Starting about 20 years ago stories appeared which indicated that certain groups were gaming the system, that business and elected officials were in bed together and this got people upset. Many of the same people who at one time were willing to work hard to achieve were now coming to understand that they were not on a level playing field and they began to revolt.

The first response by some was to elect people who would pass laws designed to spread the wealth around but they quickly became disillusioned and decided to try another approach. This new way can best be seen in the so called tea party movement. People want to return to the old way of earning your way up the ladder but they want a level field. They don’t want to become dependent on government and are ready to elect people who will bring back the old ways of rewarding hard work.

It is not easy to give up the free ride for hard work and we will see this November which side wins.