Bill Whittle: What we believe – on wealth creation

Bill Whittle continues his series on what American conservatives believe by taking a look at the creation of wealth and the fundamentally different ways Right and Left think about it:

I have a good friend who’s a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, and I’m convinced his deepest feelings about wealth fit Whittle’s description to a “T.” That, somehow, the accumulation of wealth beyond a certain point must be morally compromised: either it was unearned or in some way stolen from others. It couldn’t be earned legitimately; there must be some taint of immorality about it.

That’s a fundamental difference between him and me, and I’d swear that same opinion about the essential immorality of wealth accumulation lies at the foundation of Leftist politics.

As our President said, “At some point, you’ve earned enough money:”

It reminds me of an old joke about the difference between a conservative and a liberal:

A conservative down on his luck finds himself wandering through a wealthy neighborhood and sees a beautiful house on a hill. He looks up and thinks to himself, “Someday, I’m going to be that guy.”

Later that day, a liberal down on his luck finds himself wandering through the same wealthy neighborhood and sees the same beautiful house on a hill. He looks up and thinks to himself, “Someday, I’m going to get that guy.”

It’s so true.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)