I’ve been thinking about something Fox correspondent John Stossel said recently, that there is a war going on between the “makers” and the “takers”. It occurs to me that his erroneous position is at the core of what’s wrong with much of the modern right-wing platform.
His error is not in concept; he has the general idea right. He is simply backwards in its application.
Remember the criticism of President Obama following the death of Osama bin Laden? “All he did was give an order,” was a common phrase.
Isn’t the same true of many of the rich?
Who is it that really “makes” things in this country? Is it the fat cats, sitting in their board rooms, or the workers whose sweat keeps the factories we still have left running?
Who is it that is really “taking”? Is it the people who work two full-time jobs just to be broke, or is it the billion-dollar bonus bozos on Wall Street and their ilk at Exxon?
Of the two groups, which sends our jobs overseas? Which controls the giant bottom-line driven insurance companies that tell our doctors to let us die when a treatment costs too much? (Death panels? Already have them, thanks.)
Can an executive ‘make’ a wall? No, but a mason can. Can a captain of “industry” operate his own factory? Not bloody likely.
Who really are the makers, the people who built this country and made it great? And who really is doing nothing but taking?
Now don’t get me wrong – there are several very wealthy individuals in this country that earned every penny they have, either through incredibly hard work or brilliant innovation. By the same token, there are definitely people out there who ‘leech’ off the system.
However, when Mr. Stossel tries to tell me that those among us who have devoted their lives to helping others, or have labored to exhaustion for the enrichment of another who has never lifted anything heavier than a pen in his or her entire life, are doing nothing of value but only “take,” I have one thing to say.
To “take” Mr. Stossel’s favorite phrase: “Give me a break!”