During the interminable middle weeks of August, waiting for football to finish it's warmup and get on with things, a bad baseball team can make your mind wander to odd places it normally wouldn't. Stories about groups of people in Iowa, gathering to eat pie and endorse political candidates, manage to creep into all forms of media, even sports radio. In lulls, people do what they have to do to find talkers, unfortunately most of them aren't worth talking about.
In general, it seems like normal people are pissed off at rich people, and I suppose that I understand where that comes from. Sometimes it feels like the game is rigged, and watching some silver-spoon a-hole coast through life while the rest of us scratch out a living will tick you off. There are rules that probably need to be tweaked, and changes made, but in general it seems like some people need to be reminded of what their parents told them as kids: Life isn't fair.
We all have some stuff we get lucky with in life and some areas where we get screwed. I'm a reasonably healthy, somewhat intelligent man, blessed to have a solid upbringing that gave me opportunities in life. At the same time, there's that pesky genetic predisposition toward carrying a few extra pounds and having a head the size of a watermelon that I've had to overcome. Rich people presumably got to where they are due to some combination of good fortune and hardwork, if we're going to go after them, shouldn't I be able to even the playing field somehow between every guy out there who's better looking than me?
You'd probably scoff at the logic, but I think it's sound. Some guy hits the genetic lottery and ends up being able to attract women in any situation. Doesn't matter if he's got a G.E.D. and a string of illegitimate kids, he'll always do okay in that department. This guy didn't do anything in particular to deserve that, just had the good fortune with DNA. In order to make this situation more fair, shouldn't I be able to disfigure and/or otherwise do something to make him less attractive? After all, I'm struggling over here, need to level the playing field and give guys like me a chance to succeed. The attractive "rich" are pushing out middle class types.
Preposterous comparison? Perhaps, but it does illustrate that all sorts of chance occurrences are going to impact your lot in life. If you think what I've just outlined is trivial, or unimportant, well my testicles would disagree with you vehemently. Many people would rank acceptance and companionship far ahead of money, so why no efforts to level the playing field in those area? The comeback to this is that I could hit the gym more often, eat better, become more interesting, etc. But that's like telling a non-rich person they could work harder and continue their education, that sounds like a lot of effort.
Maybe people are right, and making a few adjustments will make life easier for all the average people out there. That would be nice, but being people, they'd probably just find something new to bitch about. Not to mention those of us who don't put fiscal issues at the top of our list of inequities, what do we get out of this? The thing I want most in life is for the Vikings to win a Super Bowl, it's patently unfair that they haven't done so yet. I'm every bit the fan that any Patriot, Steeler or Packer fan is, yet they get titles and I just keep getting screwed.
I think the only fair solution is for Congress to pass a law, dictating that Aaron Rodgers play for the Vikings until they win it all. Only seems fair to me, after all, why should one team reap the benefits of having such a great players simply because they made a savvy decisions? The playing field isn't level, they've had the advantage of intelligent people running their teams, while we've been cursed with ineptitude. The only way to truly make things fair is to give the Vikings a mulligan on past decision making, take some stuff from the responsible teams out there and even this thing out. Seems like the moral thing to do if you ask me, people are suffering.
A football team may not rank with some of these issues in terms of importance (at least according to you), just drawing parallels to illustrate a point. No matter how well you do something, there will probably always be a million or so people who do it better, sad but true. They'll either have more skill, better opportunites, perhaps both; but just because they do it better, does not mean that you can't do it well, so why spend all your energy trying to take them down a peg?
The mantra of "Life isn't fair" is one that has been around since we were kids, stomping our feet and pouting because our brother got a new bike while we had to take his crappy old one. It's surprising that so many people seem to have forogotten it. You might think my examples are small potatoes compared to government issues, and you're right, but that all depends on the comparison being made. Get diagnosed with cancer and I'll bet life seems REALLY unfair, some guy paying 5% lower taxes probably seems about a consequential as a waitress screwing up your drink order.
But yet even those people soldier on, not worrying about placing blame, just doing what they need to do to survive. I know the motivation here is to fix the problem, but you're never going to "fix" this problem. The rich are smarter than us, they have more resources at their disposal and will always be one step ahead. I don't say this to tick anyone off, I'm right in that boat with you, just the reality of the situation.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, beyond that there are too many variables ensure everything works out fairly. If you're going to keep at it, try not to be so damn angry about it, the noble aspect is lost. Meanwhile, I'm getting gear up to work until the day I die and never see a dime of 30-40 years worth of Social Security contributions. Because when life isn't fair, you've gotta be realistic.
Of course I'll support any legislation that get us Rodgers.
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