The Spoils of Hypocrisy

If capitalism is so evil, then why are some of its strongest opponents so rich? For example: Oprah; Barbara Streisand; George Clooney; Bill Gates; Warren Buffet; Bill and Hillary Clinton; Al and Tipper Gore; and so on?

Capitalism clearly refers to a system in which money is privately made and privately owned. The chief opposition to capitalism is one based on morality: That it’s unfair for some to have more than others. Well, these people I have mentioned–and many more I could mention–are very rich and live quite comfortably. They seem to have no problem with owning lots and lots of private wealth of their own. Whether or not they give some of it away is beside the point. It’s still THEIRS to give away, and the large majority they keep is their own to keep and enjoy.

Don’t get me wrong. I APPROVE of people keeping the money they earn, so long as they obtained it through non-coercive means. Even if people make money selling something foolish, I still believe it’s theirs to keep and enjoy. That’s what capitalism is, and I support capitalism on moral as well as economic terms. What I don’t understand, or approve of, are people who morally condemn capitalism–that is to say, who morally condemn the private collection and ownership of wealth, on principle–and then, in their own lives, retain large portions of this wealth for themselves, seeming to feel no apparent conflict.

What are we to believe of such people? That they hate themselves for owning money, and therefore condemn the system that allows them to keep it? Or that they think it really is OK for THEM to own money, but not for anyone else–perhaps because they are so morally purified by their condemnation of this system that they are entitled to its benefits?

We’re told by members of the media, academic and government elite that the educated will certainly never vote for John McCain. What they mean to imply is that John McCain represents the system of capitalism–which he doesn’t, although they think he does–and that, therefore, the educated would never condone the system of capitalism. Yet the educated and successful people who surround Oprah, the Clintons, Warren Buffet, and all the rest surely have no problem with these people living in their own capitalistic worlds. So why not the rest of us? No educated person could miss this contradiction, not to mention the unspeakable hypocrisy involved. It’s not an innocent error, if they are as intelligent and as educated as they claim.