ROGER SIMON: Election 2016: Billionaires Battle For America’s Soul.
Donald Trump isn’t the only billionaire in the eye of a seemingly treacherous Florida hurricane that threatens to destroy us all or at least change our world as we know it. Three others – one or more of them far richer than Trump – are singing “Bye, bye, Miss American Pie.” Only it’s not a Chevy they are taking to the levee. It’s a Tesla.
They are Peter B. Lewis of Progressive Corp., Linda Pritzker of Hyatt Hotels, and, of course, George Soros of practically everything. These three billionaires are the principal backers of MoveOn.org, an organization whose devotion to our constitutional republic, specifically its first amendment, is somewhere between suspect and non-existent. It is MoveOn that has instigated many of the demonstrations against Trump and may be inspiring “lone wolves,” one of whom may sooner or later do what “lone wolves” are prone to do.
I’m so old I can remember when money in politics was supposed to be bad. Plus:
These supporting billionaires are fueled by a moral narcissism that knows no bounds, so convinced are they that they are “right” on practically everything. They have enabled the (most often) young people at MoveOn who undoubtedly believe that they too are “right” and have the “right” to suppress the speech of those with whom they disagree. They behave as if they think it their noble duty. This is the not-so-royal road to totalitarianism and is the tragic consequence of the miseducation of our young for which those billionaires are also, in part, culpable.
This is not to exonerate Trump, whose language has been, to say the least, challenging. But this is no normal election and we are not in a normal time. Our country has to decide whether it seeks to be like Europe or like America. Although I have lived several wonderful years altogether in Europe and love many things about it, the decline of Europe is evident and on the cusp of irreversible. It is also evident that the Democratic Party, in varying degrees, wishes to take us in that direction. Soros, Lewis and Pritzker are accelerating that process. Whether they are overt supporters or not, they could aptly be called “Billionaires for Sanders.” The irony is palpable – I’ve got mine but none of you will ever get yours.
The thing is, traditional America was good for the bourgeoisie. Europe — or better yet, the Third World — is better for the folks on top.