In The Philadelphia Story, Jimmy Stewart's character Macauley Conner utters the line, "With the rich and mighty, always a little a patience."
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."
Ernest Hemingway's response was, "Yes, they have more money."
Turns out the wealthy, they're really not like you or me. And it would seem that these days our patience is running thin.
In fact, on many things, imporant things, the wealthy hold very different and opposing opinions than the rest of us.
These findings are from a study by Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels and Jason Seawright called Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans. [.pdf]
Government must see that no one is without food, clothing or shelter.
43% of the wealthy agree.
68% of the general public agree.
Minimum wage high enough so that no family with a full-time worker falls below official poverty line.
40% of the wealthy agree.
78% of the general public agree.
The government should provide a decent standard of living for the unemployed.
23% of the wealthy agree.
50% of the general public agree.
The government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job.
19% of the wealthy agree.
68% of the general public agree.
The federal government should provide jobs for everyone able and willing to work who cannot find a job in private employment.
8% of the wealthy agree.
53% of the general public agree.
We should have national health insurance, which would be financed by tax money, paying for most forms of health care.
32% of the wealthy agree.
61% of the general public agree.
Willing to pay more taxes in order to provide health coverage for everyone.
41% of the wealthy agree.
59% of the general public agree.
The federal government should spend whatever is necessary to ensure that all children have really god public schools so they can go.
35% of the wealthy agree.
87% of the general public agree.
The federal government should make sure that everyone who wants to go to college can do so.
28% of the wealthy agree.
78% of the general public agree.
The federal government should invest more in worker retraining and education to help workers adapt changes in the economy.
30% of the wealthy agree.
57% of the general public agree.
Favor cuts in spending on domestic programs like Medicare, education, and highways in order to cut federal budget deficits.
58% of the wealthy agree.
27% of the general public agree.
It is the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes.
13% of the wealthy agree.
46% of the general public agree.
Our government should redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich.
17% of the wealthy agree.
52% of the general pubic agree.
And this last statistic is important, as it illustrates why many Republicans and conservatives don't actually believe in democracy.
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