Making this pile of money slightly smaller is not like the Holocaust.
If this
letter to the editor, from venture capitalist Tom Perkins, had appeared anywhere but the
Wall Street Journal, you'd have to suspect it had been published to discredit the writer's views. But considering the general politics of the
Wall Street Journal's editorial page, it seems more likely the editors read this letter and thought "Yes. Must sound the alarm."
Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."
From the Occupy movement to the demonization of the rich embedded in virtually every word of our local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, I perceive a rising tide of hatred of the successful one percent. [...]
This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?
Yes, proposals to tax the richest one percent at a rate closer to what they were paying under Ronald Reagan or to charge giant tech companies a small fee for using city bus stops for their private shuttles are like the Nazis. Except they're not. Really, not even close. Just as
gay marriage isn't like slavery, taxes and calling rich people snobs are not like the Holocaust. It's really that simple.