Animal Farm Elitism
“’Comrades!’ he cried. ‘You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades,’ cried Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, ‘surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?’” (Orwell)
This excerpt from George Orwell’s Animal Farm is beginning to sound frighteningly like contemporary America. Last week we learned that Matt Damon has decided to place his children in private school rather than to allow them to attend the Los Angeles Public Schools. That is his right and is exactly what I would do if I were he. However, because of Damon’s status as an ardent public school supporter, he is being accused of hypocrisy, and rightly so. He has a choice, but rather than work to see that choice made available to others, he campaigns to throw more money at failing public schools. Right. The truth is, he believes his own children are too important to risk sending them to dangerous and incompetent government schools. For the rest of us who don’t have the cash to make that choice, those schools are just fine. After all, some animals are more equal than others….
And speaking of animals, how many of our leaders in Washington send their children to public schools? Not as many as you might think, considering their general opposition to school choice initiatives. Members of Congress are three times more likely to send their children to private school than are the voters who put them there, yet keeping the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program funded is a yearly battle between the supporters of school choice and those who think the money would be better spent by funneling it into the (execrable) D.C. public schools. Many D.C. officials send their children to private schools as well, while opposing school choice initiatives for the masses. After all, public school is fine for thee, but not for me!
And then there is Obamacare. Another thing we learned last week is that Congress and congressional staffers will not have to suffer at the hands of The Affordable Healthcare Act like the rest of us. They have snagged a waiver allowing them federal subsidies to assist with their premiums, so they will join the approximately 1200 politically well-connected unions and corporations who don’t have to abide by this hideous law the rest of us are trying to get rid of. (Note: while some private employers are getting these waivers, they go 9-1 to unions.) The administration has even gone so far to note that the federal subsidy is important to stop any “brain drain” from Congress and their staffs. You have to wonder if they have read Animal Farm lately.
Guns are another issue. The Left treats the very existence of guns as an affront to their delicate sensibilities. Why else would they treat schoolchildren with toy guns like they were little Hannibal Lecters? The Left cannot imagine why anyone would want to carry a gun or keep one in his home for protection. Don’t people know those things are dangerous? Look at the amount of gun violence in our society! We must rid the masses of their guns! The liberal elites hide behind the safety of their armed guards while trying to pass legislation to prevent us from using guns to protect ourselves.
In their minds, liberal, left-wing, progressive media and governmental elites know what is best for us and we should appreciate all that they are doing for us, promoting a socialist society (except when they want to be paid millions to star in a movie), taking things from us through taxes to benefit “the common good” (and themselves), and controlling us through more and more legislation from which they exempt themselves and those who meet with their approval. And if they were not allowed to do this, well then….Bush would come back! Surely there is no one among you who wants Bush to come back! One can almost picture Jay Carney as Squealer.
It is time we realize where the real divide is in our society; it’s between Them and Us. The left-wing media, government, and, yes, corporate complex is concentrating wealth and power by taxing those of us who are productive to buy votes so that they can continue to tax and legislate us into submission. If one does not belong to a union or have a government job, one must follow the laws of the land. Members of the political elite or one of its protected groups, well, they don’t – they get waivers. They are more equal than the rest of us.
