How the one-percent live - Sister Toldjah

**Posted by Phineas

That is, the elite, cocktail-swirling Democratic Socialist one-percent:

Last Friday night, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) held their 54th Annual Eugene V. Debs–Norman Thomas–Michael Harrington Award Dinner at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza in Chicago. You of course might not expect anything too fancy from a group so devoted to the needy and the working class–but not to worry, these wine-sipping socialists proved they know just how to spend an evening discussing how to spend other people’s money.

On the surface, it seems well within the realm of possibility that the Holiday Inn was a modest choice for this group–and appropriate, as it is recommended on Unite Here Local 1’s website as a union hotel. However, modest may not be the most accurate way to describe this not-so-little shindig.

For starters, it wasn’t your typical stuffy lower level ballroom function, crammed between a business association meeting and a wedding. This was a fine gala, in a much more exclusive atmosphere: the Wolf Point Ballroom on the 15th floor at the internationally renowned Merchandise Mart. It featured stunning views of a breath-taking sunset–a perfect place to unwind with a top shelf cocktail before settling in to condemn the greedy “rich.”

After the delightful libations, everyone entered the exquisite dinning room, which featured 180-degree panoramic southwest skyline views, overlooking the cityscape and the Chicago River. The tables were lined with fine cloth, and individual sets of utensils for each of the 3 courses. Decadent slices of cheesecake awaited each guest, occupying their plates atop swirls of sweet-tangy raspberry sauce to whet their appetites for the abundant meal that was in store.

Following a fresh chilled house salad with a choice of multiple creamy dressings, the wait staff hauled out one giant tray full of food after another to feed the primarily white-dominated crowd. These weren’t your typical bland hotel meals of three asparagus sprigs and a three ounce portion of salmon with lumpy hollandaise, either. The plates were overloaded with heaping mounds of mashed potatoes, a pile of assorted squashes and vegetables, and not one, but two succulent and juicy chicken leg quarters, smothered in savory-rich gravy.

There was, in fact, so much food, that as I looked around at the tables nearby–I noticed not one person (comrade?) was able to finish the food on his (or her) plate. And despite knowing about all the hungry people out there in Chicago–and even perhaps the very servers in the room–with mouths to feed at home, shockingly, these DSA members let all those leftovers go to waste. Weren’t these socialists heartbroken to think of how many mouths could have been fed with all that extra food?

Somehow, I think you can guess the answer.

Remember, this is the same crowd that community organizer Barack “Wagyu Beef and Arugula” Obama ran with in his salad days back in Chicago — organizing the working classes, fighting for fairness, and scarfing down raspberry cheesecake.

Oh, the travails of the fighter for economic justice!

Odd though. It looks like no Occupiers were invited. Must’ve been an oversight.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

T-Steel says:

May 2, 2012 at 7:31 pm

The rich are the rich.

Obama is wealthy. Romney is super wealthy. In my eyes, I see wealthy. Does that mean that a wealthy person can’t fight for the less-wealthy or poor? Nope. But is President Obama a poor man’s brawler in the trenches. Nope. Is Romney? Nope. Can they help things get better? Yep and without being a poor man’s brawler in the trenches. President Obama missed a golden opportunity going after health care reform with all guns blazing instead of being the “jobs crusader”. We’ll how bad that hurts him.

And c’mon! Leave the arugula alone. I live around a whole bunch of South Carolina conservatives that grow and sell arugula at the farmer’s market. Damn campaigners made arugula a dirty word! I like arugula and I’m so far from the 1% I work for’em. *grumble*

Carlos says:

May 2, 2012 at 9:53 pm

Ah, but the “occupiers” were invited, Phineas.

You know, the socialists who occupy the backrooms of Chicago’s political landscape, and the ones who “occupy” bank offices to extort money from those banks, theoretically targeting such actions toward the welfare of “poor” folk but in fact taking such a richly deserved, overly large cut themselves before the “poor” ever see a penny of it? Kinda like our glorious leader did when he was just a simple “community activist”?

They are, daily, more like Huxley’s pigs every time we have the misfortune to have to learn about their latest shenanigans.

BTW, why is it never pointed out that another name for “democratic socialist” is “NAZI”?

Drew the Infidel says:

May 3, 2012 at 5:48 am

The 99% vs. the 1% myth was created to further divide the citizenry but is more an insult to their intelligence instead. There will always be greater and lesser persons in life and I am perfectly content with the niche I have carved out for myself. Someday I may share my recipe for Buffalo Wings, the most expensive ingredient being the cold beer with which to wash it down.

May 3, 2012 at 11:13 am

The “secret” to enjoying life in our capitalist (or at least it used to be) society is not to be satisfied with what one has but to strive through work to attain what’s available that’s better, all the while realizing that it is one’s self that decides one’s contentedness, not one’s material possessions.

I have been fortunate enough in my life to know people with very little who still dreamed of a better life and worked for it. They were successful.

I have also known some very rich people who literally could afford anything they wanted. Except happiness. What a miserable bunch they were.

And throughout my life I’ve also known the OWS-type people. Equally miserable as the rich, lustful of the rich person’s possessions, but totally oblivious to the joy one can feel for striving through honest work. What a miserable lot, and, even should they succeed in dragging the “rich” down to their level, will never be happy because their entire life philosophy is built on possessions.

What a sad commentary.