There were two images that arose from George Clooney’s $353,000 price tag for people who wanted to share dinner with Hillary the other night. One was the blatant admission of how the super-rich dominate the political system. Is it the arrogance of power over others that causes the politically-minded to openly advertise how wealthy one must be in order to be allowed in the same room as a president-in-waiting?
The other potent image arose when seemingly hundreds of people stood alongside the street leading up to Clooney’s mansion, and showered Hillary’s limousine with dollar bills as she passed by. There was a time, centuries ago, when members of the royal classes would toss coins to the prols as their carriages sped along the streets. The table was turned the other evening: it was the prols who showered the neo-royalty with money.
Not to pass up the opportunity to exploit this $353,000 embarrassment, Bernie Sanders spoke of the “obscene” nature of big-moneyed interests controlling politics. This is a common theme amongst collectivists who want nothing more than to have the state fund their favored programs. Were any of these people sincere about getting corporate wealth out of politics, there is one solution that is bound to work: get the state completely out of the business of regulating the economic life of people. The idea of “separation of economy and state” would serve the liberty and material well-being of people in the same way that “separation of church and state” has kept us relatively free from being coercively dominated by organized religions.
12:13 pm on April 19, 2016
