Rich vs. Rich: Media Elites Trash Successful Businessmen
While watching some of the media coverage of the Republican National Convention, I can’t help but wonder why people demonize success? Everything seemed to be fixated on the fact that Mitt Romney is rich and, therefore, out of touch with the average American.
Granted, Mitt Romney was not my personal pick for the nomination. I would have loved to see Rand Paul because he has all of the small government, constitutionally based ideas without the old crotchety, tinfoil hat wearing, crazy uncle persona that his dad, Ron exudes.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Ron and the older I get the more I relate to him. In fact, I did fashion my very own shiny foil cap and voted for him in the primary because I do think the Republican Party needs to make the tough decisions to dramatically reduce the role and scope of our bloated government before it’s too late.
But we’re not here to talk about that. Today we’re discussing the double standard of ripping apart Mitt Romney because he has a lot of money. It’s being done by celebrity journalists who also are very high paid and successful in their field. Kinda hypocritical if you ask me. During the RNC coverage, I kept flipping over to MSNBC just to see the anger spewing out of their mouths. Rachel Maddow’s vitriol appears to even go deeper. My theory is penis envy: Mitt has one and she doesn’t.
Hollywood celebrities and athletes are praised for their fame and wealth. They don’t apologize for their lofty paychecks. It is actually glamorized in the media. Why then do they attempt to annihilate a businessman because he did well?
The American dream is that anyone can work hard and have a chance at success. I’m very thankful for hardworking, successful people because their success has provided a market for me and my own business. Class warfare ticks me off. Sure, it might have been nice to have been born a Rockefeller or have founded Apple, but I wasn’t and I didn’t. The government’s confiscating more of their money doesn’t do anything for me. It takes money out of the private sector where real jobs are created for the real economy and that hurts me.
Are there corrupt business people? Yes. Are there corrupt politicians? Hell to the yea! I haven’t done a scientific study or anything but I’d be willing to bet that there is a much higher percentage of corrupt politicians than corrupt business people. Yet the average Joe or Jane wants to put their faith in the government’s integrity. Those last two words are quite the oxymoron.
No business can force you to buy something from them. No business can force you to work for them. Yet the government does both everyday of your life. That’s why the majority of the time any government bureaucracy is run poorly and inefficiently compared to the private sector. I think we can all agree that UPS runs a tighter ship than the United States Post Office. A company has to earn your business or you’ll go elsewhere. The average taxpayer works about half the year just to pay for income tax, sales tax, property tax, payroll tax, etc.
So that is why I’d place my bet on my fellow business peeps out there over the government any day of the week. The next time someone criticizes a hard working, successful business person please take the time to enlighten them on the subject.
Top Image:MSNBC NJ Headquarters; courtesy of Jeff Maurone from Seattle, WA, USA
