Privilege, Pathology and Power
1st January 2016
Paul Krugman loves to criticize Republican rich people but doesn’t seem to make the connection with rich Democrats.
Wealth can be bad for your soul. That’s not just a hoary piece of folk wisdom; it’s a conclusion from serious social science, confirmed by statistical analysis and experiment. The affluent are, on average, less likely to exhibit empathy, less likely to respect norms and even laws, more likely to cheat, than those occupying lower rungs on the economic ladder.
The names that leap immediately to mind are Clinton, Obama, and Soros. Krugman has other ideas, of course.
And it’s obvious, even if we don’t have statistical confirmation, that extreme wealth can do extreme spiritual damage. Take someone whose personality might have been merely disagreeable under normal circumstances, and give him the kind of wealth that lets him surround himself with sycophants and usually get whatever he wants. It’s not hard to see how he could become almost pathologically self-regarding and unconcerned with others.
“Clinton” leaps immediately to mind in every American not living on one of the Left Coasts.
So what happens to a nation that gives ever-growing political power to the superrich?
They turn into a Crustian-dominated welfare state, where tame mobs of Underclass intimidate those who won’t Get With The Program. Take a look around you.