Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, famously wrote:
“The disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition is the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.”
Smith was pointing out the age old habit of blaming the powerless for their plight. In recent years, modern conservatives have become especially adept at this ruse.
Since the economic crash of 2008, many working class conservatives seem almost irrationally angry at people who have nothing.
Currently, one third of America’s population, have a combined wealth of less than the Walmart heirs, but even with this shocking example of wealth concentration, conservatives oppose fair wage and hour laws, as though the limits on the profit of capital and labor should be defined by those who control the capital and labor.
Wages have stagnated in America for too long, as more and more opportunity is lost to internationalists who are given free rein to chase down and exploit the cheapest labor in the world.
The reward for hard work has diminished in our service based economy that pays too many people less than the living wage which is $17.70 an hour. Interestingly, this is the parity price of a bushel of wheat which family farmers should earn.
This correlation is no coincidence. These numbers are examples of two primary macro-economic anchor points on the front end and the consuming end of our capitalist economy. Structural anchors like these can’t be violated over the long term without fostering the eventual collapse of the private enterprise system under the weight of debt, taxation and the social welfare programs which must stay in place to keep the imbalanced system barely functional.
We must ask ourselves a very basic question. Who benefits and who suffers from an economic system that’s so far out of balance that it traps a majority of it’s population in involuntary servitude to unnecessary debt, interest and taxes?
Economics is founded in the laws of physics. By the correct analysis of economic data, the flow of energy through the economy can be tracked from the producer to the consumer. Therefore, the intrinsic value of “things” can be measured in terms of energy value. It is impossible to violate these basic laws of value without creating terrible economic and social consequences.
When fundamental economic laws of exchange are violated, the rich will always get richer, the poor will always get poorer, and the Government will always expand to fill in the gaps created by these inequities.
Moreover, if we don’t stop blaming the wrong people for these inequities, and begin to implement policies that return our system to internal balance, our system will surely implode under its own weight. It was true for the Roman Empire and it’s true for America today.
Noah Webster had this to say about it:
“The causes which destroyed the ancient republics are numerous, but in Rome, one principal cause was the vast inequality of fortunes.”
The culprits who benefit from violating economic fair play always hide behind the curtain, and from their sanctuary, cast aspersions on the people they harm.
Too often, hard working and well meaning conservatives fall into the “blame trap” set by their rich and powerful brethren, who blame the powerless, instead of themselves for the economic woes of society. This is especially true for the Tea Party conservatives who foolishly point to illegal immigrants, poor African Americans, aborted babies and of course, “liberals” as the source of all societal problems.
We must say to our conservative friends… please, open your minds to economic reality and broaden your scope of vision beyond your bias and then you will find those who are truly responsible for the economic and social conditions that drive hopeless people to acts of desperation.
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