OPINION:
I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Neither condition changed who I am as a person. However, flying private sure beats the hell out of hitchhiking.
Know this: There isn’t a Democrat who would choose public housing and food stamps over a fat bank account and a mansion. Not a single one.
Dreaming of wealth and the independence and joys it provides is natural in America because in America, dreams can become reality if you work hard enough, sacrifice greatly, are willing to take risks, have an unshakable belief in yourself and are terminally stoned on dogged persistence and absolute perfection.
This, however, is what separates the men from the boys, the bloodsuckers from the providers, and the wealthy from everyone else.
Every American dreams of becoming wealthy, but too few are willing to do what it takes to achieve genuine success. Achieving wealth takes a Herculean work ethic, indefatigable determination, steadfast imagination, true grit and the Chesty Puller courage to take scary risks. Instead of busting hump, buying lottery tickets on a pathetic hope and prayer is apparently easier — and dumber.
Not so amazing, but the backbone of the Democratic Party, the ones buying the most lottery tickets, are the ones who can least afford it. Duh. If these mouth-breathers promise not to vote, the GOP should buy them a lottery ticket. That would be cheaper than trying to reach them with political ads.
The Democrats are once again playing class warfare. Jacking the poor and downtrodden against wealthy Americans is a core Democratic political strategy.
Instead of revering those who have achieved incredible milestones and wealth in their lives, the Democrats have conditioned their political base to believe rich people have achieved their wealth through hook and crook and should pay even more taxes than the vast proportion they already pay. The message the Democrats send to their base is that wealthy Americans are to be despised, maligned and punished.
The Democratic Party will never admit that wealthy Americans might just be smarter, have a greater tolerance for risk and a stronger work ethic than supporters who carp about how the system is rigged against them and seek a fantasy of “shared opportunity.” Show me where life is fair and I will vote for President Obama.
The only things rigged against these comfortably dumb Americans is the image staring back in the mirror and the Democratic Party, which has intentionally enslaved and victimized them for decades.
What does Mr. Obama want to do? He wants to spread the wealth around, which are Marxist code words for taking the wealth of some and giving it to others who have not earned it and have no right to it. The real message should be: If you want something, go out, bust your tail and earn it.
Mitt Romney is very wealthy. Good for him. He could only have achieved his amazing fortune in America, the land of opportunity. The opportunity that made Mr. Romney rich is still out there for the taking.
We should have a national dialogue about our bountiful land of opportunity, what it takes to get ahead and the minefield of government restrictions put in place that restrict opportunity. In this dialogue, there should be no discussion of what government can do to help. Fedzilla is bloated to a vulgar, counterproductive size after decades of strangling the life out of the land of opportunity.
Instead of demonizing the wealthy, we should teach our kids to learn from them. We should instruct our kids that the vast majority of wealthy Americans were not born with a silver spoon in their mouths but actually went out, struggled, sacrificed and earned their success the old-fashioned way — in the free market, where incredible competition is the standard.
To demonize wealthy people is to spit in the face of the American dream. You might want to note that there is no demonization of the wealthy from Republicans, only Democrats.
Ted Nugent is an American rock ’n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is the author of “Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns & Rock ’N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing).
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