It is interesting how wealthy liberals are continually blaming the American middle class for global warming, terrorism, and pretty much all of the world’s problems.
Simply put, it is all your fault.
Our Consumption Factor Imperils Us All
“People in the third world are aware of this difference in per capita consumption, although most of them couldn’t specify that it’s by a factor of 32. When they believe their chances of catching up to be hopeless, they sometimes get frustrated and angry, and some become terrorists, or tolerate or support terrorists…The only way out is to make consumption rates and living standards more equal around the world. We could have a stable outcome in which all countries converge on consumption rates considerably below the current highest levels.”
And if the guilt and emotional blackmail over the melting glaciers and shrinking polar bear genitalia wasn’t enough, now the fact that not all of the world shares our lifestyle (or conversely, we are not as poverty stricken as they are) is cause for serious self-examination and self-blame. I don’t think I can bear it. After staggering under the “white man’s burden” for 2,000 years of colonization and exploitation of those of a darker hue, now I must shoulder the burden for causing Islamic terrorism and the devastating changes to our planet that will quickly lead to the extinction of the human race.
All because my children have clean water to drink and live in a heated home while their father drives a vehicle to work and buys his socks, toothpaste and corn flakes at a big box store. Even worse is the fact that their mother washes their clothes in a machine instead of scrubbing them clean on the rocks in the river and has the audacity to make them pop tarts once in awhile.
For that, we are to blame for the impoverishment of Kenyans, the envy of those less fortunate, the actions of fanatical suicide bombers, and the waste and consumption of the world’s resources by those seeking to attain the lifestyle of the average American.
Yet such hand wringing and finger pointing essays never mention the percentage of the world’s wealth, innovation, food, and scientific and medical advances that should be rightly credited to those greedy consumers of natural resources and unfair users of electricity and air conditioning. If it wasn’t for the technological and medical breakthroughs originating in the West, there would be far fewer than 30 million Kenyans. Consumption is directly related to productivity. Those who don’t produce, don’t consume.
The “solutions” offered to solve this grave problem of Western over-consumption is always little more than authoritarian socialism and forced reallocation of wealth. It may be disguised as higher fuel taxes, carbon taxes, and luxury or consumption taxes or be little more than manipulation of regulations to control or inhibit industry, refineries, manufacturing and drilling under the guise of environmentalism. But the overall goal to sharply reduce the lifestyle of the average American (and Westerner) has been laid out in clear and unapologetic terms by globalists and the liberal elite. It used to be that the goal was to raise the lifestyle and condition of the impoverished and disadvantaged. That seems to be no longer the case.
The wealthy West as spent countless billions in an attempt to improve the condition of other peoples, with very little gratitude to show for it. And now the focus has shifted away from helping those unfortunates have access to clean water, rudimentary medical care, or not be butchered or starved for political purposes, but towards attacking those in the West for daring to have a computer to blog with while corrupt governments continue to allow their citizens to dwell in dirty, crime ridden shantytowns.
So, with my eyes newly opened to the plight of those other dwellers of planet earth, I decided to take stock of what I now feel guilty for having or providing for myself, my spouse, and my three daughters. This is by no means an exhaustive list.
• Electricity for lighting my home and powering appliances (my Christmas lights were definitely unnecessary).
• Running water
• Refrigerator and deep freeze for preserving food for later use.
• Washer and dryer
• DVD players
• Stereo.
• A couple of computers.
• Multiple TV’s
• Toaster
• Dishwasher
• Stove
• Microwave
• Hot water heater
• Two cars. (My wife and I both have to get to work)
• Store bought clothes made from synthetic fibers, undoubtedly manufactured by oppressed peoples in Sri Lanka, Mexico, or China.
• And I won’t even begin to detail the unnecessary trips for a big gulp, a burger and fries, or those wasteful stops at the dollar store.
My wife and I have worked very hard to achieve a semblance of a middle class lifestyle and to provide a decent and comfortable standard of living, education, and medical attention for ourselves and our children. I refuse to feel guilty for managing to own a toaster or for watching a football game once in awhile. Yet that is what we are, in effect, told to feel.
There are far greater solutions for helping to alleviate the all too true sufferings of far too great a number of the world’s population. For starters, the formation of governments that are not unbelievably corrupt, inefficient, brutal, exploitative, and backwards would be a start. The reevaluation of foreign aid (by the evil West) including who it is distributed to and what it is used to purchase, should be completely overhauled. Innovation will go a long ways in bringing in everything from tourist dollars to foreign investment.
Responsible stewardship of funds, natural resources, and the elimination of corruption would do far more to improve the lot of the third world than any policies fueled by guilt or jealousy of the lifestyle and modern technological advances we have managed to achieve in the First World.
Only the village idiots truly believe that if an American didn’t buy a television it would help a Kenyan, or that by not purchasing some DVDs he would help ease the driving envy of the Chinese or defuse the potential jihadist. The agenda is now far less about helping the rest than just about tearing down the West.
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Kensians!
They all believe in the static pie of wealth (that if I can afford a McMansion in a gated community I have ”stolen” wealth from poor folks elsewhere who can’t.)
There used to be an online poll/test that you take on how green your life was.
Apparently I was pretty green!
It guesstimated how long you should live so as to use the average amount of all humans.
So, most Americans should die as young people, according to it.
(It might have been the same test/poll that blew up the student in the class room as part of the graphic graphics.
If it was the same one Common Core liked it a lot.)
There is a self-hating wing of the environmental movement that wants humans dead, the sooner the better.
They keep throwing stuff like this against the wall in hopes some people will be hit with enough remorse to kill themselves.
But the truth is China is a huge polluter.
The old USSR used Siberia as a garbage dump as well as East Germany.
Russia today is filthy.
Africa has some of the worse polluter countries on earth.
Egypt is one of them, it is getting very bad there.
The ME.
Have you read about the poop trucks of Dubai?
Of course who can forget the pollution of Saddam H. when he set hundreds of oil wells afire?
Pakistan is a $#!+ hole.
Yet here are our home-grown bleeding hearts trying to play on our ignorance and guilt complexes.
If you fall for it you’re stupid.
We have one of the cleanest countries on earth!
“Only the village idiots truly believe that if an American didn’t buy a television it would help a Kenyan, or that by not purchasing some DVDs he would help ease the driving envy of the Chinese or defuse the potential jihadist. The agenda is now far less about helping the rest than just about tearing down the West.”
Ah, but you see, what they believe is that if the government takes away our ability to own those things, by taxing away our “excess income”, and giving it to the Kenyan president, it would help the Kenyans. It wouldn’t end up in the president’s Swiss bank account, oh no.
Sort of like today’s social
safety nethammock.Wa back in the day the GOP represented flinty frugal Americans. Anyone else here remember Nixon talking about his wiife’s “cloth coat” ? Anyone here worried about balance of payments for buying all those cheap foreign made goods?
Sure keep buying and throwing away massive quantities of plastic crap we can always build more land fills. Conservation is not for conservatives. Reagan ‘s conservation record would cause people to call him a moderate at best and a liberal at worst.
@john: I’ll take Reagan over Al Gore any day. His personal landfill is overflowing with non biodegradable hypocrisy.
John, the one that keeps the whores employed…too dumb to be a tool!
It’s interesting to see how drones don’t seem to be much interested in arguing over the Great Global Warming Hoax much anymore.
I have wondered if we took all of the land that humans use, including highways, parks, stadiums, airports, houses, businesses, parking lots, etc., and averaged it out per person in the USA, how much land does the average American take up compared to other countries?
In my state where we are TAXED on EVERYTHING from the minute (we) get up in the morning to the very minute (we) go to sleep at night… I (we) am privileged to walk this earth – but only if I pay wayyyy extra for it…
… We pay 7% tax every time we go to (any store) to purchase just about Anything.
…property taxes are through the roof…and we ask ourselves exactly what do we get for them?
…what used to cost $20.00 at the grocery store when picking up a ‘few’ items now costs “on average” $54.00.
… A gallon of milk used to cost $1.60-$1.99 now it is $3.67 (if you are lucky).
….A gallon of gas used to cost $1.89 (I remember $1.09) now it fluctuates between $3.19-$3.54/gal.
On “‘Average” – On Average – between State and Federal Taxes the Government will
snatchsteal right out of one’s pay check $1000.00/Month – and that is meager compared to some…and which DOES NOT include the Property Taxes nor the 7% on everyday shopping… by the way with few exceptions, $dollar$ stores are now more than a dollar for items, the average is $1.29 (and up) false advertising if you ask me….Hell after all that we are ‘lucky’ to ‘consume’ ANYTHING..
Yet, YET – the audacity of the LEFT the LIBERALS – THE DEMOCRATS is to TELL ME…that “I” consume too much??? A lot of us (the middle class) – WE are just lucky to SURVIVE these days…
Apparently those who are bitching about Americans and OUR consumption should be looking at the GOVERNMENT for THEIR
THEFTCONSUMPTION of OUR (earned) MONEY or…perhaps they live in a basement in Mom/Dads house in a fantasy world of unicorns and rainbows – and have never had to face ANY of these responsibilities.Now I am hearing the Democrats in my state want to have a tax on water consumption….what next taxing the air I breath???? DEMoRATS are INSANE PEOPLE!!!
I want ANY Liberal – Democrat – Lefty to explain to me HOW, by putting more of a burden on the Producers of a Country – State…is actually ‘helping’ non-producers or the (poor) of a Country – State be up-lifted?
Oh, wait…Let me answer that – It doesn’t.
Why? Because handouts (without something in return) doesn’t force people or give them incentive to do better for themselves…and unlike the Global Warming myth…THAT is a social/scientific and phycological FACT!!
BTW – Anyone know how Haiti is doing these days after all that generosity (millions) from the American People…money which after Months and months could not be accounted for???
But Liberals/Progressives/Lefty’s or Demo-crats have a phycological problem to FACTS.
KENYA? A corrupt third world country…
Wait a minute!!! The Liberals/Lefty’s/Progressives/RINO’s haven’t even figured out YET! – YET!- How to end the “War on Poverty” here in AMERICA…
But, they certainly know how to perpetuate it for political gain – votes!
Now, they have set their sights on Kenya? Now they THINK they are going to SOLVE A poverty problem in KENYA?
Oh, what a hoot!
@FAITH7: #9
We really can’t blame obama for wanting to help the country he was born in. I think it should be either his own money he sends, or set he should up an organization and ask for donations.
Just recently I wondered why there are not any signs like, “OBAMA WAS BORN HERE”, or, “OBAMA GREW UP HERE”. ALL of the other presidents have them.
https://www.sodahead.com/united-states/why-are-there-signs-in-kenya-proudly-proclaiming-it-as-the-birthplace-of-barack-obama-but-no-such-s/question-2119677/
The image was photoshopped from this image http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/x/1/1/obama_sign_comparison.jpg
@Smorgasborg#10 – Hi Smorgasborg – You are right…where are those signs anyway?? And again, the ‘o’ can help them no problem so long as it is with his ‘own’ money.
Hell he can go back Kenya or to Indonesia and run for president there… but, I don’t know, Obama wouldn’t have any fun running things in either of those two countries because they have already been ruined and run into the toilet…nothing good to destroy there…
I believe I read one of his family members (father or brother) had started an organization for donations for some kind of mission he was starting in Kenya…of course they capitalized on Obama’s name to get donations..and I don’t believe all the donated money actually went to the ’cause’ it was suppose to…I don’t believe the ‘project’ was ever fully completed. I’d actually have to research it again but, I believe that was the jest of it.
Go figure.
@FAITH7: #11
The organization you are referring to is run by obama’s half-brother. The organization is called the Barack H. Obama Foundation, and Lois signed the paperwork ONE MONTH after it was submitted, but the agreement was dated retroactively, which is illegal, but when has obama worried about anything being illegal?
This part of the story really interested me:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-official-lerner-approved-exemption-for-obama-brothers-charity/
As with many other things like this, I have to ask the same question I have asked for years:
WHY HASN’T ANY REPUBLICAN INVESTIGATED THIS?
ANSWER
There no longer is a republican party. It is just a branch of the one-party system we have now. If you are a republican or a democrat, you belong to the same party.
@smorgasborg – #12 – Got it. Thanks. – The part that interests you?..made my head spin!! Sheesh! And, yes amazing the total ‘blending’ that has evolved over the last few decades has finally met at the fork in the road…time to forge a ‘new road’ vote the rats out and get some level headed, sound minded, common sense Conservatives in office…
..time to let the crazies in the asylum know they are not running it anymore…
Joe Biden went to China in 2013.
He stayed at a hotel, the St. Regis Hotel.
He did NOT stay at the Westin Chaoyang Hotel because ”the PRICE was PROHIBITIVE when compared with St. Regis.”
So, Michelle, her mom and her two daughters (as well as 66 other people, slaves, guards, etc.) are in China.
Guess where THEY are all staying?
If you guesses the Westin Chaoyang Hotel you’d be correct.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cost-first-ladys-beijing-hotel-was-deemed-prohibitive-biden_785814.html
Conspicuous consumption has been a thread running through the Obama family’s life in Wash.DC. for years now.
@Nanny G: #14
The help is already tired of Michelle’s mother’s constant complaining. Imagine complaining ALL THE time in a place like that. No wonder she wasn’t proud of the USA until obama got elected. Now, she can live the live style she wants.