Wealth Distribution Pt I.

With a new president about to take office, I remember hearing people talk about of one of their fears of having a democrat president (and a BLACK one at that) was that they would pursue the idea of redistribution of wealth. The circles I found myself in thought this was the worst profanity ever. The main idea was "how could someone come in and take MY hard earned money and give it away!?!? That's stealing!"

There is so much frustration about the concept of wealth distribution. The right says that they worked for and earned their money and therefore taxing it or "redistributing" it is no ones place but their own. What irks me about this is that it implies a lack of understanding of what's outside one's immediate setting. People are born with different opportunities. Someone born in North Philadelphia does not have the same opportunities that I had growing up on a farm in Bucks County and going to a great school district in the suburbs. People are influenced rather intensely by the environment that surrounds them. A kid in Bucks County is far more likely to grow up and live a "successful" life with a "good" job because those are the things that surround them. They are surrounded by "healthy" things and thus know how to live a "healthy" life.

Kids in North Philly (or any other impoverished, disinherited neighborhood) are not around those things. They're surrounded by hunger, drugs, abuse, and various other acts of violence. They are NOT surrounded by 17 year olds driving BMWs or big TVs or soccer practice or backyard pools or people who have what they need. They're shown by what they see on TV and hear on the radio that having money and things will validate them to others and make them happy. It's not true. You know the old saying; "desperate times call for desperate measures." I recall the Propagandhi song title "Ordinary people do f***ed up things when f***ed up things become ordinary." It's true. Ordinary people do desperate (f***ed up) things when desperate things become ordinary.

The point is that not everyone has the same chances to work jobs that bring one wealth. The playing field is not level. The people born into "good" situations work hard, but they do not have to work as hard to get to the "top" and the jobs they work are not as demanding, making working harder for a longer period of time possible. If everyone had the same chances, this complaint of wealth-stealing would be valid. The slanted playing field makes it invalid.