March 28, 1996
Conservatives spew nonsense
I write this letter in response to Clarence Duncan's March 12 letter.
Duncan's feeble attempt to disarm the Democratic Party's assertions regarding the distribution of wealth in the United States, using Bill Gates as an example, merely demonstrates the proposition he set out to disprove: that it is the Republican and conservative position on these matters that is claptrap.
When pressed, even conservatives will admit that Bill Gates is an exception to every rule, an aberration. Bill Gates' financial success is the exception that proves the rule for millions of others: that Republican, conservative capitalism serves only those already well-off; it does not, indeed cannot by its very nature, significantly improve the lot of the lower economic classes. If it did, there wouldn't be any.
Hard work is not enough. Most poor people work extremely hard, often at several jobs with low wages and no benefits (i.e., health care, vacation, sick leave, etc., etc., ad nauseam), yet their work is unappreciated. Further, the cost of living, determined in part by those who own large corporations, including living quarters, tends to rise expotentially compared to wage increases. In other words, Mr. Duncan, no one in American is really free who is not already financially well-off.
Conservative theory and rhetoric cannot overcome the facts - that the more liberal programs enacted by the United States government since the late 19th Century's introduction of the Progressive Era are what has truly been able to turn the tide of corporate feudalism. As the world changes, as the nation changes, so must the government and our conception of the individual, business and freedom. The freedom our ancestors enjoyed is no longer possible; where wealthy corporate structures are present and pervasive in our lives, so must a balancing influence to counteract the negative aspects of such corporate presence. Only the federal government can accomplish this balance, lest freedom be destroyed by the special interests of the wealthy.