I cannot help it that when I think of these Wall Street millionaires and billionaires the first person in my head is Ebenezer Scrooge. This would not be the case had many of these upper class urbanites not treated everyone else as dirt beneath their feet, contributing philanthropically without any sincerity, and pursuing to continue this, in the words of George Fitzhugh 'war of the rich against the poor, and the poor against each other'. The late PM Benjamin Disraeli stated in his 'Sybil, or the Two Nations', "Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets: the rich and the poor."
Disraeli was not protesting the inequality between all wealthy and poor persons, just as I do not. He was denouncing the bourgeois (to steal a term from the Socialist dictionary). It was not royalty, gentry, nobility, or aristocrats, whom he had a problem with, nor would I have a problem with such people. Instead it was, as I believe it was in the days of our Lord when he walked the earth, the man of trade who is the most devious. In the Bible we find many references to the moral depravity of those with great wealth.
“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24
"As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." - Matthew 13:22
"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." - Matthew 6:24
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ..." - Luke 16:19-31
It was the merchant class which committed themselves to struggle against the Church, Monarchs, Nobles, and Aristocrats, throughout Europe. They invested a sum of their fortune into the pursuits of Enlightenment philosophes. It was not liberation for society they sought from some imaginary oppression; it was liberation for their class. I cannot recall who said it but they stated, 'every revolution is the aspiration of a rising elite'. No revolution occurs without a fashioned elite ready to take the throne. Thanks to modern capitalism which arose out of England during the late Middle Ages, new elite did arise whose sole focus was on making money.
With that money they felt it their right to sweep away the old institutions and install new ones. Their new God was to be enthroned for all to worship. The new emotions shall triumph; Pride legitimized rebellion, Greed legitimized plunder, and 'Reason' legitimized atheism. Yet we are taught that pride is a deadly sin, greed is disgusting, and reason has to be chained to an altar. There is to be only one God for man and we must choose. Either we are to have the God of Heaven and the Earth, who had given his only begotten son to save us from our sins, and listens to our sighs or we are to have the god of Money, which chokes dry the well of virtue and rains down upon men the horrors of indifference.
I am not the only Reactionary who holds these sentiments. The late Gilbert Keith (G. K.) Chesterton shared my views on the matter. Beside him surely stood other Reactionaries that acknowledge the accompanying sinfulness of accumulating wealth among the class who are at war with the poor.
"Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it." - G. K. Chesterton, 'A Miscellany of Men' (1912)
"The rich are the scum of the earth in every country." - G. K. Chesterton, 'The Flying Inn' (1914)
"The poor object to being governed badly, while the rich object to being governed at all." - G. K. Chesterton
Most modern "Conservatives" tell me I should be a defender of the wealthy because I proclaim to be a Conservative. Never have I suggested confiscating anyone's wealth as a Socialist would because private property is always to be respected. This principle is held in higher regard by me than by them. For they propagate the doctrines of Republicanism and Representative Democracy, a public government, whilst I profess adherence to the doctrines of Monarchy and Aristocracy, a private government. Of these two, public and private government, which do you believe is most likely to uphold the principles of private property? The one who is set to lose most if they dare set a precedent that private property is not to be respected, for their authority relies entirely upon this principle.
"I must tell you that the liberty and freedom [of the people] consists in having of Government, those laws by which their life and their goods may be most their own. It is not for having share in Government, Sir, that is nothing pertaining to them. A subject and a sovereign are clean different things. If I would have given way to an arbitrary way, for to have all laws changed according to the Power of the Sword, I needed not to have come here, and therefore I tell you...that I am the martyr of the people." - King Charles I of England
I can relate to what you are saying. I am insulted by the assumption that a social conscience must stem from envy. I do not hate the rich but I am concerned about the strain that the mega-rich put on society. I am not jealous. I am concerned.
ReplyDeleteIt is also absurd to me that if the 'rich' draw attention to the strain that their own class is putting on society,they are told that they should give away their money to charity lest they be a hypocrite.
Class systems are needed. I like the Sumurai class system of Feudal Japan. I like that the Samurai considers matters such as money to be beneath them.
I think we place to much value on wealth and by doing so we create societies that value individuals for the wrong reasons.
Thankyou for posting. I agree with what you are saying and I enjoyed reading. Some great quotes in there too.
Good post. Have you read much of Fitzhugh? Good for you if you have, he's a vastly devalued intellect, written off without much though because of his defense of slavery.
ReplyDeleteI have read his 'Sociology for the South' and am planning on reading 'Cannibals All!'
DeleteHaving read you for quite some time, I would have never imagined you as a Monarchist. Or a fervent Christian. You have always seemed to value individual rights to a degree that would eliminate the former, and possibly stifle the latter.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, great points in your article. Because of my own political leanings, I am often called everything from fascist to socialist as well. This is a portrayal of zero sum thinking, however, and should likely just be brushed off as the musings of a small mind.
Great blog. :)