OPINION:
It is a strange world indeed in which we find utterly rich Democrats waging a war on the rich. If it were real, it would be a suicide mission, but it is not real. It is pure chicanery in an attempt to charm the public into thinking that all Democrats are poor just like the rest of us.
Yet only two Democratic presidents in fairly recent times — Harry Truman, who by the time he died had become a millionaire, and Bill Clinton, who later hit the jackpot with book deals for himself and his wife — were not in the millionaire’s club on Inauguration Day. The Clintons’ net worth today is about $250 million. Even Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama were millionaires when elected. Let me say it again: Every recent United States president selected from the ranks of the Democratic Party has been a millionaire.
No wonder Mr. Obama can joke about tax cuts. Neither he nor other prominent Democrats need them. Just how disingenuous can they be in their bogus war on the rich? Even Al Gore came from huge wealth and, like Mr. Clinton, is now headed for the billionaires’ club. The Kennedys, John Kerry and FDR fit nicely into that same club. Moreover, almost every one of the multimillionaire Democratic presidents inherited their loot or married it. They did not earn it. They were never quite regular Americans playing stickball or tag on the street. Check out the net worth of your favorite Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the next chance you get. Do they really understand our pain?
If we want our children to be successful, do we really want to have a president chastise them if they ever happen to become successful, or perhaps even rich, just because the guy next door did not work as hard? Is it wrong for our hard-working, high-achieving children to not be able to enjoy the fruits of their endeavors? Must the guy next door get a huge share of what our children have achieved?
As a Democrat myself, seeing all the rich Democrats suggesting everybody else give up their wealth for the poor, I must ask, why are they still outlandishly wealthy?
BRIAN KELLY
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
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