Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia - This is Class Warfare!

Jack Kingston (R) - Georgia's First District

This week, Republican Jack Kingston of Georgia's 1st Congressional District (Savannah, Brunswick, Waycross) came out with the following statement regarding subsidized lunches for kids in public schools:

“One of the things I’ve talked to the secretary of agriculture about: Why don’t you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? Or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria – and yes, I understand that that would be an administrative problem, and I understand that it would probably lose you money. But think what we would gain as a society in getting people – getting the myth out of their head that there is such a thing as a free lunch.”

This, of course, from a member of the party who continually accuses the left of trying to wage class warfare any time there is mention of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.  Yet another attack on the poor.  Basically just another accusation that the poor in America are nothing but leeches taking advantage of handouts sponsored by the hard work of the American taxpayer (read middle class and wealthy white people).

Kingston assumes that, because these kids get free or discounted meals, they don't understand the value of money.  In Kingston's world these kids are getting the proverbial "free lunch" which we all know, thanks to the axiom, doesn't exist.

What School Looked Like for Me

Well, you see, I am one of those ivory tower liberals you hear about if you're on the right.  The picture here is from the primary and secondary school I attended and from which I graduated.  It's the most prestigious and elite school in Mobile, Alabama.  Blazers and ties.  Lots of white kids from wealthy families showing off trophies they've received for excelling in some area of study.  Growing up in this extremely privileged environment I had no concept of money at all.  As far as I knew, money was picked from money trees by some Mexican immigrants who brought it to my family in wheelbarrows.  I never wanted for anything.  If I did want something I had it without question.  Yes, I paid for lunch at my school.  But where that money in my pocket came from I didn't know and couldn't care less.

My family had been in the oil business since the early 1900s.  Some bad investments by my grandfather in the 80s prior to his death left my family in pretty dire financial straits for which I was not prepared.  I had not learned the value of a dollar or basic things like balancing a budget, keeping a checkbook, paying rent or bills.  I had a lot of catching up to do and I am still behind, now in my 40s.  So what is Jack Kingston's point?

Children of poor parents, in the world of Kingston and Republicans in general, just need to learn the value of a dollar.  Obviously their parents aren't able to teach them because they too suck from the teat of government.  They are the welfare kings and queens who somehow get a check every month for doing nothing.  They are lazy and shiftless and don't understand the value of good hard work.

Well, lazy and shiftless and not understanding the value of good hard work describes me in early life as well.  It describes a great number of people with whom I graduated.  We all went off to college, paid for by our parents.  Many graduated college to either go into a family business or find work easily due to the many connections our families had.  Most of those people would go on to bemoan those lazy welfare cases who had never had to work for what they had.  I'm not saying that these are bad people; they just have no concept at all of what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, to be born without the benefit of privilege and connections.

Victorian Era Workhouse

You'll find plenty of this in the conservative community.  People who like to think of themselves as rugged individualists despite having all the breaks available to the top tier of our population.  These people think poor people are poor purely because they lack a solid work ethic while being totally unaware of how they, themselves, have benefitted from an increasingly unlevel playing field.  It's mostly an argument of ego.  If forced to face the facts, the wealthy and conservatives like Kingston would have to admit that their achievements aren't based solely on hard work or being well raised.

I had the whole world laid out for me if I hadn't ditched it all to pursue a career in music and screwed my life up with drugs.  If I had stayed on the proper path I would be a highly paid attorney with countless connections in a Mobile society that looks an awful lot like Medieval England with serfs working for the nobles.  And I could have had that life with minimal personal effort.  It really is like picking money off of money trees for the wealthier members of our society.

The Myth of the Welfare Queen

Once upon a time, actually before the Reagan years and the rise of the philosophy of Ayn Rand in mainstream conservative politics, the wealthy understood their place in society a little better.  It was much more common to give charitably through church or civic groups.  But Reagan brought with him the fable of the welfare queen.  America was exposed to the notion that there were millions of freeloaders out there who were basically taking money from the pockets of hard-working "honest" citizens.  And this concept serves to illustrate the hateful attitudes that have been in vogue in conservative politics since the Reagan years.

Prosperity theology makes the case that "good Christians" are rewarded for their faith with material wealth.  So, obviously, if you are poor maybe it's because you aren't living right.  Followers of this type of religion and Randian philosophy think the playing field is entirely level and you win if you play the game the right way.  To me, "class warfare" describes the attacks of conservatives on the poor in our society.  They work tirelessly to vilify the less fortunate and justify keeping as much of their own wealth as possible.

Lee Bright with Some Gun Freaks

Further, in this day of endless campaigns and not so dark money thanks to Citizens United, political races are going national in their efforts to raise funds.  Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is facing a Tea Party primary challenge for his long-held seat by State Senator Lee Bright.  At a fundraiser in Tulsa, Oklahoma, yes, for a seat in South Carolina, Bright made the following statements after claiming that there is a large number of Americans who simply "won't work": “It’s not politically correct to say this, but we’ve got a lot of people who won’t work,” he said. “And they won’t work because we’ll provide their food, and we’ll provide their housing, and we’ll provide some spending money. We’ve all seen it, the folks in line who are using [food stamps], yet they’ve got the nicest nails and the nicest pocketbook and they get the nicest car.”

The racial element of the argument is obvious to the point that it might as well have been a speech given at a Klan rally, but this is the face of the Tea Party.  It's all about thinly veiled racism and classism.  Ironically, if you read my post yesterday, The Grand Battle - Ayn Rand vs. Elizabeth Warren, Prime Movers vs. Populism, this will sound familiar.  Lee Bright's trucking company, On Time Trucking, is currently going through foreclosure proceedings due to lack of mortgage payments.  Undoubtedly the result of Obama's liberal policies.  Bright is a member of a church that is part of the Southern Baptist Convention which is something like what church would be if Jesus was a Klan member.  Want to find some good Tea Party members?  Just find a Southern Baptist church and start talking about those abusing the welfare system.  Ditto if you want to try to join the KKK.

But the good news is, especially with Pope Francis and Elizabeth Warren increasingly gaining prominence and acceptance, the Kingstons and Brights are preaching to an increasingly marginalized segment of our society.  Yes, that group has money and yes, they have political power, but the hate and venom they preach is falling on fewer welcoming ears as people in the middle keep getting exposed to their rhetoric.  Most of these disturbing quotes we get are from small fundraising gatherings, see Mitt Romney's 47% comment from the 2012 election.  But with cell phones and video cameras catching them speaking off the record like this, America is increasingly getting to be the fly on the wall, looking directly into the black heart of the far right.  Ultimately, I hope, the sense of fair play that is inherent in the true American Dream will win the day and these far right nut jobs will be further marginalized to non-existence.  But, until then, it is what I consider to be my job to expose the emptiness behind their argument and bring their backroom discussions into the light of day.