Money, That's What I Need

For years I've bitched about our insane thinking "well, X is rich, so if I vote for X then "I'LL be rich!", and this NY Times article explains it as being "the veil of opulence":

Those who don the veil of opulence may imagine themselves to be fantastically wealthy movie stars or extremely successful business entrepreneurs. They vote and set policies according to this fantasy.

The same veil also demands people assume all gains are evenly gotten, all fairly and on merit, which of course is bullshit and something I of course have lectured you poor people on many, many times. You're welcome, by the way.  - XMASTIME

The fiscal Cliff today, via Sully:

Even now, even after an election thumping, even in the face of huge majorities of the public, even facing another unnecessary fiscal crisis, even in the sobering atmosphere tragically created by Newtown, they are prepared to walk away from any sizable increase in the rates for the very rich.

I've been writing this since the birth of Xmastime. There is nothing that matters more to those who would be hurt the most than the coddling of the rich, and their desperate need to please the very people who wouldn't cross the street to piss on them. It is, after all, the American Way:

I'm tired of crying for the middle class when I have a suspicion that the very middle class we're supposed to cry for are the ones that handed the GOP unchecked power for the last coupla years - they've been the ones with JUST enough to lose that they can be swayed by "values" talk, all while dreaming that they too can all of a sudden hit the billionaire jackpot. They sit in their recliners watching Fox News and dreaming that "hey,  if I vote for these Bush/Cheney based on boys kissing I'll end up a gazzillionaire like Bush/Cheney, they're regular guys just like me, my people!" So fuck them. All part of this fascination we now have with the uber-rich: we love to talk about "hard working, good people that make up this great country", but then steamroll over them to spring up and applaud anytime some bazzillionaire strolls onto the tv screen. We think if we bark like seals loudly enough, they'll take us into their world. Also why we obsess about Paris and Lindsay. Enough! Rich people don't need our help, everyone else does.

We need to stop thinking that voting for rich people will make us rich. Period.