Something I will never understand in our country, and particularly on the American right, is the worship and deification of billionaires. I'm someone who very much believes that capitalism is the best system of economics, and I'm someone who very much thinks that having a lot of money is a hell of a lot more fun and more comfortable than having a little money. I'm not at all opposed to people being able to create or build immense amounts of personal wealth. Hell, my entire profession depends on specifically just that! But what I don't understand is how the Republican Party has created a voting coalition comprised of a whole lot of rural, non-college-educated, blue collar, lower-to-middle class people making $40K, $50K, 70K a year or whatever, who will go to the mat licking the boots of billionaires and supporting a party whose entire goal is, very openly, to amass more wealth in the hands of fewer people.
The Democratic Party has plenty of flaws of its own, and I certainly am not in agreement with it on all things policy or ideology, but IMO the Democratic Party generally believes- and strives for- raising the tide for all (or most) boats. The Republican Party generally believes, and strives for, whomever has the biggest yacht wins.
I'd like to see the Democratic Party unapologetically embrace an economic policy of "more millionaires, no billionaires" where most anyone in this country can get rich, but nobody can be an oligarch. We are rapidly hurtling towards becoming way more like post-Soviet Russia than anyone wants to admit, with wealth and power amassed in the hands of a very, very, very select few, and the rest of the population is left to fight amongst itself for a few crumbs and table scraps. I used to be adamantly opposed to concepts like wealth taxes, but now having seen how money can literally buy U.S. elections and install un-elected billionaires who can run roughshod over our entire 250-year-old constitutional order, I can easily be persuaded the other way. Put a wealth cap of $100MM, $250MM, $500MM, whatever you want, but everything above the cap is taxed at 100%.
I love making money. I hope (and believe) with the way that I earn, save, and invest, that I can one day amass an eight-figure net worth. I think it's great that people who are infinitely smarter, more intelligent, more creative, more innovative, more entrepreneurial, more business savvy, and more risk-tolerant than I am, can make ten-fold that amount or more. America became wealthy and powerful because we became one of the best places on earth to create and innovate. I'm not advocating for SOSHULISM or anything- simply asking for my fellow countrymen and women to stop bootlicking billionaires.
