Alas, their political beliefs make me feel physically sick.
Here are people who are 18, 20, 25 years old, who have a view of the world that is so completely one-sided that they sound like liberal Rush Limbaughs. Listening to them breaks my heart.
"I was friends with a girl whose dad was an anti-union lawyer. I went over to her house sometimes, and her dad acted, like, nice. Like, a normal person. It was the weirdest thing."
"It's not that rich people are mean. Rich people don't have much to be angry about. But I despise what they stand for, so all rich people are evil."
"All scabs are class traitors. They do not deserve any sympathy."
There is no allowance for perspective here. There is no acknowledgement that cold or hungry children might sometimes trump idealism. There is no grace. Most significantly, there is no equality of rights: no "innocent until proven guilty," no "life, liberty, property." As one of my more moderate friends framed it: "The labor movement is not a movement for equality. It is a movement of and for strictly the middle class."
What I find ironic is that it seems to be a movement based on entitlement. I didn't realize the middle class was established enough to feel entitled to so much. Aren't we still painfully aware of the lower classes from whence we came? Aren't we still very conscious of the ethical characteristics that set us apart from the wealthy class that we have traditionally described as lascivious, prodigal, and morally bankrupt? The middle class is based on ideals of equality and morality. It has grown from poverty, into which it does not want to return, and has created a system of morals that frames material wealth as something that, ultimately, is not to be desired.
Apparently, according to these pro-labor liberals, the middle class is actually a white-supremacist Oreo, disdaining-- violently hating-- both those below and those above. (Forgive the bizarre metaphor-- but the attitude is just as bizarre as the metaphor, so I'm going to let it stand.)
I'm sure someone will identify this as a very important case of "othering," but I think that word is too made-up to be taken seriously, so I won't go there. In fact, I don't think I have the patience or inclination to go into any greater/deeper/more theoretical discussion.
But I will say this: my parents are business owners. They are capitalists. They are not evil. They feel pain. They strive for good things. They support things they believe in: their community, their families, their friends. And they once told me a story that I think has a lot to do with the hypocrisy of an anti-capitalist middle class movement.
My parents were re-evaluating the pay structures at their business, and one of the options for their workers was, instead of year-end bonuses, a profit-sharing option. That meant that when the company did well, the employees would prosper-- they would receive more than their bonuses. And when the company did poorly... well, the employees would not get bonuses. Not one employee opted for profit-sharing. They weren't going to gamble with year-end bonuses. They would rather have stability than the chance for greater prosperity.
As owners and capitalists, my parents take this risk every year. The risks they take-- and any losses they incur-- are what allow their employees to have a stable income. And although their business is just a small part of the capitalist picture, the point stands: the working middle class has the privilege and luxury of a stable, livable wage because of the risks taken by "evil capitalists." Regardless of a businesspersons' intentions-- good or bad-- his or her role is not exclusively to screw the little guy. His role is balancing the needs of the bottom line against needs of individuals to create a company that works not only for itself, but also for its employees. (With a little polishing, I might be able to argue that this is the reason that communism does not work well; it eliminates the tension between risk/gain and stability, trading progress for stagnation in the interests working for employees, not for business. Clearly, that will need some work before it's airtight, but you get the gist.)
The moral of this story is: come on, guys. "There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy..." Sometimes-- just sometimes-- even a capitalist might deserve a second glance.
