Written by Jane F. Gilgun   

It’s Time for Little People to Stand up to Big People
& Stop Letting Big People Use Them

by Jane Gilgun

“Big me, little you,” Edward told me. He was rich from exploiting others. His mentality is similar to the super-rich who are enraged at the prospect of the roll-back of their tax cuts to Clinton-era rates.

According to Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, in the beginning it was just Wall Street bankers who expressed fury at the ruling that their firms temporarily had to suspend huge bonuses if they had received bailout money from the federal government. The rage has spread to other sectors of the super-rich, such as oil barons in Texas who bankroll the Tea Party movement.

“Craziness has Gone Mainstream”

Many super-rich, of course, agree with the resumption of higher taxes, but a sizable number do not. Krugman observed that “craziness has gone mainstream” when Forbes magazine runs a cover story that included statements like President Obama is trying to bring the government down because of his anti-colonist agenda that he absorbed from his Kenyan father. These are the words of Newt Gingrich, a politician with a long record of defending the interests of the super-rich. The super-rich also fund Gingrich’s political ambitions. He wants to be president of the United States.

Besides those who advocate for the super-rich, the whiners-in-chief include people making between $400,000 to $500,000 who can hardly meet the expenses of private school tuition for their children, ocean-front estates, and $1000 and up bottles of wine. This insight is from Krugman.

The super-rich have manipulated ordinary-income Americans to “carry their water,” meaning that millions of ordinary-income people express rage over taxes and government. It was lack of government regulation that brought the United States and the rest of the world to the brink of economic disaster. The super-rich on Wall Street did what they wanted with the money of ordinary-income people to make obscene amounts for themselves.

Consequence of Small Government

Look what happened. Millions in the United States have experienced economic disaster. I hope THEY are not rageful over taxes and government. Taxes pay for unemployment compensation, education of children, roads, bridges, fire and police protection, and social security for the disabled and old. What’s the alternative to taxes? To do away with all of this?

With the money to buy clever people who concoct devious arguments, the super-rich have created the impression that the tax roll-backs will hurt small-business owners and the poor. In truth, the roll-backs will benefit both.

“We” Are You and Me and Not Them

Once the tax fight is over, Krugman said, millions of ordinary-income Americans, bankrolled by the super-rich, will resume their demands to do away with social security and unemployment compensation. Clever wordsmiths, highly paid, will send the message that we all have to make sacrifices.

By “we,” the entitled super-rich mean “you and me” and not them.

Entitlements of Big People

Krugman’s column reminded me of Edward’s words: “Big me, little you.” This handsome, charismatic man, gifted and talented, was a pimp, a drug dealer, chef, and owner of fine restaurants. He beat and raped a woman who refused to have sex with a man he had promised her to. Her name is Madeline

Edward said, “I’m going to do what I want to do regardless. I’m bigger than you. Big me, little you type thing.” He said, “I didn’t care what was going to happen to her or the consequences at that point, too. I got money. I can buy me a lawyer. I can do this.” He even thought his prior sexual relationship with Madeline would shield him: “He said, “I didn't think anything of it because we had slept together three or four times. Most they can do is give me a domestic assault. I'm used to getting those.”

Krugman pointed out the sense of entitlement behind the super-rich opposition to tax roll-backs and government regulation. I point out Edward’s sense of entitlement.

Connect the dots.

Edward thought he’d get away with what he did to Madeline. “I got away with it so many times before,” he said. Not this time. Madeline, bloody, bruised, and full of DNA evidence, went to the police, tax-funded all. They arrested Edward and had the evidence to put him in a maximum security prison for ten years. Edward’s lawyer wife had no idea how he made his money, except for the income from his restaurants.

There is a pervasive mentality of entitlement that runs through every sector of society. The entitled ones think they can get away with using others for their own gain. They have reason for these beliefs. They have gotten away with it for many years. It’s time for us little people to stand up to them, just as Madeline did.

References

Krugman, Paul (2010). The angry rich. New York Times, September 20.
Mayer, Jane (2010). Covert operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama. New Yorker, September 20. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer#ixzz104TK3VmZ/
Shear, Michael D. (2010). Gingrich: President exhibits “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.” The Caucus: The politics and government blog of the Times, September 13. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/gingrich-president-exhibits-kenyan-anti-colonial-behavior/
Terkel, Amanda (2010). Michael Steele defends Gingrich’s comments that Obama may have “a anti-colonial Kenyan worldview” (video). Huffington Post, September 15.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/15/michael-steele-defends-gingrich-kenyan_n_718774.html/

About the Author

Jane F. Gilgun writes children’s stories, articles, & books for a variety of internet websites.