Bernie Sanders’s old saw about “millionaires and billionaires” has been shortened to “billionaires” ever since he became a millionaire. That’s a sign of how deep his sincerity goes — not very far, it turns out.
But, when he attacks Pete Buttigieg for getting donations from billionaires, as he did in Tuesday night’s debate, it comes off as even more insincere than usual.
Buttigieg is not going much further in this race. He simply can’t win black votes, and that means he will fade into irrelevance. But the fact that he got a few dozen contributions from billionaires (and note that the most they’re allowed to give is $2,800, so they didn’t give him billions) should be viewed as perfectly fine by everyone.
Democrats and leftists often seem to forget this, but rich people have rights, too — yes, even billionaires.
They have a right to whatever they have earned, so long as they earned it fairly. They have a right to dispose of their wealth as they see fit. As Michael Bloomberg said in the first debate, he worked hard for his money, and he has a right to give it away or throw it away on a presidential run.
Billionaires have as much a right to participate in the political process as anyone else. By and large, they became rich, as Bloomberg did, by providing people or businesses with goods and services or capital, as in Tom Steyer’s case, that they needed to fulfill their goals or make their lives better.
Sanders, who became a millionaire by writing a book that people voluntarily bought, has a way of discussing billionaires as if they were not only cash cows who exist for his personal amusement but also subhuman entities with nothing but malicious intentions. If he were talking about any other group this way — a race, a gender, or a group of immigrants from a particular place — we would condemn him for hate speech.
This socialist millionaire really ought to watch how he talks about any particular group of the public. If he wins the nomination, they will be the ones sitting in judgment of him when they vote in November.
