Has anyone here ever confronted a conservative about the issue of wealth dispari

[Freeper]

Brilliantrocket  (89 posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:30 PM
Original message
Has anyone here ever confronted a conservative about the issue of wealth disparity?
   
Edited on Fri Jan-28-11 03:30 PM by Brilliantrocket
We know most conservatives are not super wealthy. When confronted with statistics such as : the top 20% own 85% of total assets while the bottom 80% own 15%. When confronted by something like that, and knowing that most conservatives aren't rich, how do they defend it? Why are they so blind to where their own interests are? Examples of responses would be enlightening.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x294670

I would think I would know what my own interests are.
Besides when I was a child I was taught that what folks have belongs to them. If I want want they have I need to earn it, not sit on my ass and wait for some govt agency to give it to me.

old mark  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #4
34. Many of those people believe Sarah Palin is a figure mentioned
   
in the bible (Deborah) come from Heaven to lead America into the End Times....How much logic can one really expect?

But I'd be interested to learn how it turns out...

mark

That's a new one.

Drale  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:34 PM
Response to Original message
3. When ever I bring up the issue of wealth
   
they usually have the same reply. "But I might be rich some day so we should treat the rich the way I would want to be tried when I'm rich." Its pure delusion. :spank:

I've never heard anyone say that. I have heard people say that when a person earns a dollar that the dollar belongs to them. I know at DUmmyland that is crazy talk.

Cant trust em  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:35 PM
Response to Original message
5. That's not an issue for them.
   
Rich people are rich because they are smarter and more talented.

Poor people are poor because they are dumb and lazy.

Not always some people are not wealthy because they have other priorities in life. Then again they don't go around bitchin that someone has more than they do either.

GoCubsGo  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #5
15. Exactly right.
   
If a person is poor, it is because they "made bad decisions about their lives." The unemployed are "lazy and don't want to work." The wealthy get their wealth from "hard work" and "smarts", rather than from lying, cheating, stealing, inheriting... No need to confront them about the disparity. They'll just spout the usual BS.

Hell most people that are poor is due to making not so wise decisions. Just like people with high cholesterol, and who are overweight  probably made bad dietary choices.

Dappleganger  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 06:09 PM
Response to Reply #15
42. What I hear, "You don't get rich working 40 hours a week."
   
What I say, "Right, I'll bet my grandfather the share-cropper had some insights into that fact, too."

It usually leaves them speechless.

There is a lot of truth to that. Do you DUmmies really think that when Bill Gates first started out he worked 8 hour days, had vacation and sick time? I bet he worked some really long hours and didn't take any vacations the first few years.

Hello_Kitty  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:39 PM
Response to Original message
12. "I never got a job from a poor man" or somesuch is the typical response.

So you have gotten jobs from poor people? I can just imagine what the pay was.

Xenotime  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:40 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. exactly. when you ask them about somebody who starts their own business...
   
they don't have an answer.

Hell you need money to start a business. Granted they may not be rich but, odds are someone who is rich invested in that business.

kctim  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:43 PM
Response to Original message
16. I have found
   
that the further right you go, the more that individual rights trump society needs.

They are not "so blind to where their own interests are" because individuals themselves are the only ones who know what is in their own best interest.

The left says that minorities need protection. Yet the smallest minority in the world, the individual is not protected in the least.

HughBeaumont  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:44 PM
Response to Original message
18. "That's just 'class warfare'©"
   
"It's so typical of the leftists to begrudge people who, plain and simple, worked way harder than the rest of us to get where they are©."

"So what should we do, Mr. Commie? Redistribute wealth©? Is that the answer? Should no one be successful?"

"An egalitarian society is not possible©."

"The left doesn't have any other solution or plan except to screw the rich and punish success©!!"

Yes, my co-workers, Facebook friends, relatives and various future Marble-Row denizens who visit DU were conditioned quite well by messers Luntz, Murdoch, Hannity, Reagan, Ailes and Weyrich.

So which statement isn't true?

Brilliantrocket  (89 posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 03:53 PM
Response to Reply #21
26. I guess they think that wealth is infinite...

No but, you guys seem to think it is when discussing the tax code.

riderinthestorm  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 04:04 PM
Response to Original message
31. "The rich create jobs, and that's good for all of us".
   
Insert long, obligatory nonsense about the rich, taxes, job creation and futile chat about how the last 10 yrs have been so great for the middle class...

Basically, its useless.

And how many jobs has Obama and his big govt approach created?

Bill McBlueState  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 11:00 PM
Response to Original message
55. "How dare you try to color my worldview with facts!"
   
That's not really what they say, but they might as well.

That should be the DU motto.

[Ballygrl]

Has anyone here ever confronted a conservative about the issue of wealth disparity?
   
We know most conservatives are not super wealthy. When confronted with statistics such as : the top 20% own 85% of total assets while the bottom 80% own 15%. When confronted by something like that, and knowing that most conservatives aren't rich, how do they defend it? Why are they so blind to where their own interests are? Examples of responses would be enlightening.

As a conservative I don't like playing the jealousy game because I have no doubt if I wanted to be wealthy I could, and I don't begrudge anyone from keeping what they've earned.

BTW, why not ask that question on the conservative board as opposed to asking it on a board where conservatives aren't allowed to post?

[Freeper]

As a conservative I don't like playing the jealousy game because I have no doubt if I wanted to be wealthy I could, and I don't begrudge anyone from keeping what they've earned.

BTW, why not ask that question on the conservative board as opposed to asking it on a board where conservatives aren't allowed to post?

Because they don't want real answers to the questions. They just want left wing talking points to make them feel better.

[BlueStateSaint]

Because they don't want real answers to the questions. They just want left wing talking points to make them feel better.

Ding!  Ding!  Ding!

We have Teh Winnah!  (H5, BTW)

[formerlurker]

What is the threshold for whether you can keep the money you earn, or forfeit it to those who don't make as much as you? 

How does that threshold affect the factory worker, or unemployed person who wins $300 million in the lottery? 

[Carl]

I have a fairly simple answer to that question DUmbasses,it is only three words..."I don`t care".

You see DUmmies,I don`t waste an ounce of my life worrying about what someone else has that I don`t.

[NHSparky]

Most of us don't freakin care, assclowns.  Then again, it ain't the politicians on OUR side who are the wealthiest, now is it?  And of those who do have wealth, most of our guys MADE it.  Yours just inherited or married into it.

[LC EFA]

Brilliantrocket  (89 posts)  Fri Jan-28-11 03:30 PM
Original message
Has anyone here ever confronted a conservative about the issue of wealth disparity?

...

Why the **** should I care if someone has more than I do ?

There's pretty much no situation where someone else won't be worth more , earn more or be smarter than me.

You do the best with the abilities you have , rather than demand that everyone be forcibly equalized to some lowest common denominator standard.

You DUmmies should aim to live to a better standard and achieve what you want through individual efforts rather than demanding that a higher power drag those around you down to your standard because you're too lazy and DF to ever achieve anything.

Start with those things that are well within your limited mental capacities, like trash collecting or burger flipping and go from there.

[BlueStateSaint]

Ever think that the snotrocket primitive is a mole?

[LC EFA]

Ever think that the snotrocket primitive is a mole?

Ever hear of OPSEC ?   

[AllosaursRus]

Another thread puttin' words in our mouths, though most of these appear to be following conservative logic.

Do DUmmies ever come up with a unique thought? If they did, we'd probably have a new form of epilepsy and another excuse for them to claim victim-hood in order to go on disability!

Any of you DUmbasses contribute any thing more to society besides a high pitched annoying whine?

Didn't think so.

[Freeper]

Another thread puttin' words in our mouths, though most of these appear to be following conservative logic.

Do DUmmies ever come up with a unique thought? If they did, we'd probably have a new form of epilepsy and another excuse for them to claim victim-hood in order to go on disability!

Any of you DUmbasses contribute any thing more to society besides a high pitched annoying whine?

Didn't think so.

The only thing they give anyone, is heartburn and some amusement.
I guess a few laughs is a tiny return on all the tax dollars they gobble up.

[BlueStateSaint]

Ever hear of OPSEC ?   

H5 for reminding me.

Though, if you were practicing the same, you'd have waited a reply or two . . . 

[debk]

My CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN parents taught me that if I wanted something, I had to work for the money to get it until I could buy what it was I wanted.

I wanted contacts when I was 16. They said I didn't need them. I went out and got a job, and bought them myself.

I wanted to drive THEIR car when I got my license. They said ok...as soon as I could afford the difference in their car insurance by adding me as a driver. I did....right after I got enough to pay for my contacts, which were a lot of money back in those days!!

My entire college education was paid by life insurance money, I received from my mother's death, and a trust that was set up from being burned as an infant. It was for tuition, dorm costs, books. I wanted money for clothes, entertainment, food...so I worked almost the whole time I was in school. I didn't have a car of my own until I after I graduated from college....and bought one AFTER I got a job. (paid $44 a month for that thing!)

No work, no money.

What a novel concept!!

My kids' father is a surgeon.

Yet both my kids were working by the time they were 16. Earlier really...the younger one went to work at 15 at Taco Bell, and my daughter babysat.

They wanted to go to the movies with friends? They paid for it.

They wanted to drive? They had to pay their car insurance.

When my daughter was in college...she had a choice. She could live in the dorm, and it would be paid for her. Or she could live at home. If she wanted to live in an apartment, she paid for it herself. She lived in the dorm for part of freshman year, and lived at home until she was 24! Then worked 2 jobs to have the apartment.

Conservatives were/are taught to go out and work for their money. We are also taught to GIVE up some of that money....to our Church, our kids' schools, charitable donations to Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Childrens' Hospitals, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Boys/Girls Clubs, etc, etc, etc!! And any other place/organization that we WANT to support.

WE learned from our parents and WE teach OUR children how to be productive people in society. WE weren't taught, nor do WE teach OUR children....how to collect welfare for generations. 

[BlueStateSaint]

My CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN parents taught me that if I wanted something, I had to work for the money to get it until I could buy what it was I wanted.

I wanted contacts when I was 16. They said I didn't need them. I went out and got a job, and bought them myself.

I wanted to drive THEIR car when I got my license. They said ok...as soon as I could afford the difference in their car insurance by adding me as a driver. I did....right after I got enough to pay for my contacts, which were a lot of money back in those days!!

My entire college education was paid by life insurance money, I received from my mother's death, and a trust that was set up from being burned as an infant. It was for tuition, dorm costs, books. I wanted money for clothes, entertainment, food...so I worked almost the whole time I was in school. I didn't have a car of my own until I after I graduated from college....and bought one AFTER I got a job. (paid $44 a month for that thing!)

No work, no money.

What a novel concept!!

My kids' father is a surgeon.

Yet both my kids were working by the time they were 16. Earlier really...the younger one went to work at 15 at Taco Bell, and my daughter babysat.

They wanted to go to the movies with friends? They paid for it.

They wanted to drive? They had to pay their car insurance.

When my daughter was in college...she had a choice. She could live in the dorm, and it would be paid for her. Or she could live at home. If she wanted to live in an apartment, she paid for it herself. She lived in the dorm for part of freshman year, and lived at home until she was 24! Then worked 2 jobs to have the apartment.

Conservatives were/are taught to go out and work for their money. We are also taught to GIVE up some of that money....to our Church, our kids' schools, charitable donations to Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Childrens' Hospitals, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Boys/Girls Clubs, etc, etc, etc!! And any other place/organization that we WANT to support.

WE learned from our parents and WE teach OUR children how to be productive people in society. WE weren't taught, nor do WE teach OUR children....how to collect welfare for generations. 

H5 for raising them right!

[debk]

H5 for raising them right!

Thank you.....thank you verrrrry much! 

[Ballygrl]

My CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN parents taught me that if I wanted something, I had to work for the money to get it until I could buy what it was I wanted.

I wanted contacts when I was 16. They said I didn't need them. I went out and got a job, and bought them myself.

I wanted to drive THEIR car when I got my license. They said ok...as soon as I could afford the difference in their car insurance by adding me as a driver. I did....right after I got enough to pay for my contacts, which were a lot of money back in those days!!

My entire college education was paid by life insurance money, I received from my mother's death, and a trust that was set up from being burned as an infant. It was for tuition, dorm costs, books. I wanted money for clothes, entertainment, food...so I worked almost the whole time I was in school. I didn't have a car of my own until I after I graduated from college....and bought one AFTER I got a job. (paid $44 a month for that thing!)

No work, no money.

What a novel concept!!

My kids' father is a surgeon.

Yet both my kids were working by the time they were 16. Earlier really...the younger one went to work at 15 at Taco Bell, and my daughter babysat.

They wanted to go to the movies with friends? They paid for it.

They wanted to drive? They had to pay their car insurance.

When my daughter was in college...she had a choice. She could live in the dorm, and it would be paid for her. Or she could live at home. If she wanted to live in an apartment, she paid for it herself. She lived in the dorm for part of freshman year, and lived at home until she was 24! Then worked 2 jobs to have the apartment.

Conservatives were/are taught to go out and work for their money. We are also taught to GIVE up some of that money....to our Church, our kids' schools, charitable donations to Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Childrens' Hospitals, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Boys/Girls Clubs, etc, etc, etc!! And any other place/organization that we WANT to support.

WE learned from our parents and WE teach OUR children how to be productive people in society. WE weren't taught, nor do WE teach OUR children....how to collect welfare for generations.

Now that's a great answer!

When I got my 1st job at 16 my Mother said that I was to start paying $25 a week towards household expenses, when I wanted my 1st car I had to save for it and buy it myself and buy my own insurance, when I went to school I paid for it myself and worked 2 jobs. What a novel concept expecting your children to be responsible and not expect everything to be handed to you.

[Ballygrl]

Also something that needs to be added to this is material things.

We only got a big screen TV a couple of years ago, and we only got it because hubby's Aunt was buying a new 1 and asked us if we wanted 1 of the earlier model ones she bought about 8 years ago, we said yes, but we did without 1 all these years because we had more important things to do with our money. I have a laptop in the kitchen that I bought on ebay about 3 years ago, it's about a 10 year old model, and when the screen went I just hooked up an exterior monitor to it, I didn't go out and buy a brand new laptop, and hubby just bought me a mini laptop for Christmas this past year, it's the only brand new computer we have in the house, all the rest of our computers are minimum 5 years old. We have cellphones, and all of them are pre-pay, we don't want the monthly bill. We live within our means, that's the conservative way.

[GOBUCKS]

I kept waiting for a more competent DUmbass to inject a full-blown bouncy, but it never came. Just a bunch of hypothetical bouncies from DUmmies too timid to claim they were true. How stupid. I want applauding bystanders! I want rethugs put in their places! I want Bush voters realizing the error of their ways!

[BlueStateSaint]

I kept waiting for a more competent DUmbass to inject a full-blown bouncy, but it never came. Just a bunch of hypothetical bouncies from DUmmies too timid to claim they were true. How stupid. I want applauding bystanders! I want rethugs put in their places! I want Bush voters realizing the error of their ways!

You know what it is?  In their efforts to seem more numerous than they actually are, the Left is cutting down on the content of Bouncy Construction 101 classes.  Gets more DUmb****s out on the street that way.  Their actual bouncy skills are greatly reduced, though.

[Ballygrl]

JoePhilly  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-28-11 04:20 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. My old high school friends are like a bell curve ...
   
3 of use are pretty liberal, 3 are very conservative, the rest are in the middle with various leanings depending on the issue.

Our yearly golf reunion is for the most part "apolitical" ... its basically a bunch of 40ish guys playing bad golf, drinking, and reminding each other of how great we were as athletes / sex gods. And, we also spend much of the time making fun of each other. Endless mocking.

My conservative friends hate the fact that I was right about Iraq. So I rub that in their faces whenever the chance presents itself. None of them know who Phil Graham was or what his role in the financial collapse was ... I enjoy explaining it to them.

When one of these political debates pops up ... my moderate friends, those in "the center of the bell curve" quickly instruct my conservative friends to "give it up now!!" ... their position is that I will destroy any argument that my conservative friends put forward ... which is a mocking of their views.

and who is Phil Graham?

[GOBUCKS]

JoePhilly  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-28-11 04:20 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. My old high school friends are like a bell curve ...
   
My conservative friends hate the fact that I was right about Iraq. So I rub that in their faces whenever the chance presents itself.

When one of these political debates pops up ... my moderate friends, those in "the center of the bell curve" quickly instruct my conservative friends to "give it up now!!" 

I'll bet the whole bell curve is happy to see DUmmy JoePhilly show up at the golf outing. Only he thinks it's annual. The rest of them play every
Saturday.

[LC EFA]

JoePhilly  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-28-11 04:20 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. My old high school friends are like a bell curve ...
...

When one of these political debates pops up ... my moderate friends, those in "the center of the bell curve" quickly instruct my conservative friends to "give it up now!!"

This is because they're there to play golf and have fun; not listen to some whiny voiced leftist screaming "Bush LIED/ MIHOP !!111!" and acting like a pretentious asshole for the duration of the game, making them want to whack you with a golf bat and leave you in the sand trap at the back of the 9th.

[terry]

This is because they're there to play golf and have fun; not listen to some whiny voiced leftist screaming "Bush LIED/ MIHOP !!111!" and acting like a pretentious asshole for the duration of the game, making them want to whack you with a golf bat and leave you in the sand trap at the back of the 9th.

It's funny how they always think that if someone doesn't want to argue with them it's because their argument is so brilliant.  It never occurs to them that most conservatives are polite and know that arguing with a loony liberal is like arguing with a 2 year old.  It's true you won't win but not for the reason they think.

[Tucker]

old mark  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-28-11 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #4
34. Many of those people believe Sarah Palin is a figure mentioned
   
in the bible (Deborah) come from Heaven to lead America into the End Times....How much logic can one really expect?

But I'd be interested to learn how it turns out...

mark

I don't recall reading about America in the Bible.

As to Palin, they will go to great lengths to slander/libel her. With all their obsession with Palin, someone like Rubio or Jindal will sneak in and run away with the 12 election. They won't know what happened until it's too late.