It Seems to me...
It seems to me that there are three types of people in this country, economically speaking. There are the "haves," the "have-nots," and the large group of us in the middle, struggling to climb a little higher.
This is a three-tier system, and naturally, the upper tier is primarily concerned with protecting what they "have." I believe this top tier tends to spawn conservatives, Hell-bent on "conserving" what they already have. And therein lies the great cosmic joke - lending a hand to the bottom tier, or even (Oh my God!) eliminating the bottom tier, would INCREASE their wealth and possessions, at least in the long run.
I can hear the catch-phrases and standard labels running through the minds of the wealthy as they read this. The label "bleeding-heart liberal" being one of the most common. I believe the middle tier is where most of the liberalism lies, and yes many of them may have arrived at the "helping hand" philosophy through compassion and understanding. Perhaps this is because the middle tier is closer to the bottom that the top tier.
But part of the cosmic joke is that the top, conservative tier's philosophy is also based on non-empirical reasoning - selfishness. Maybe not overt selfishness, and maybe subconscious, but the foundation of the philosophy is to "conserve" what they have, and restrict others from taking any of it. And they are extremely good at it.
Personally, I am in the middle tier. Politically and philosophically I am a liberal. However, I did not arrive at liberalism through compassion and emotion, but rather through logic and reason.
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