CJT wrote:


The Democrats think everybody should have a chance to do well. The
Republicans think the already well-off should keep all they have and
get more, regardless of merit, at the expense of the "unwashed
masses." That's what's "conservative" about it -- conserve the
relative positions of everybody -- keep the rich rich and the poor
poor.

I mostly agree. We conservatives want to keep what we've got and keep the
ability to get more. Others are free to get theirs, but not at our expense.
It's not that we want to keep/get our wealth at the expense of the great
unwashed masses; we object to the government taking our wealth and giving it
away.

Economic conservatives believe that wealth can be created. Liberals tend to
believe the amount of wealth is fixed and simply needs to be redistributed.

Many (many) years ago, I saw F. Lee Bailey interviewing H.L. Hunt, a rich
Texas oilman. Bailey asked the "are you still beating your wife question"
as: "Why have you never shared your immense wealth with the less fortunate?"

Hunt looked like he had stepped on a bug.

"Because I use my money to give people something more important than a
picture on a museum wall. I give them a job."

And as for the opportunity to create wealth, where else but America could a
poor black boy grow up to be a rich white man and marry Elvis Presley's
daughter?