229 Wealth vs. Liberty

<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">America chose liberty so that people could make decisions for themselves & control their own lives, and Capitalism was their economic system of choice because it closely matches the liberty ideal. But Capitalism can be detrimental to liberty because it creates an unequal distribution of wealth, and concentrations of wealth concentrate opportunity too, and vast accumulations of wealth accumulate power, which has a negative impact on liberty. Plus, wild wealth disparity creates a de facto Class system that tends to monopolize liberty and breed disdain among the aristocracy for the little people. Respect for allies is at the very core of our liberty principles which is why most Americans feel betrayed by a Class system.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Americans will accept wealth inequality up to a point, as long as it doesn't affect their liberty in a discernible way, and as long as everyone has at least a nominal opportunity of obtaining wealth themselves through skill, hard work, tenacity & luck, but if opportunity is only the purview of the wealthy, that Americans will not accept. Our nation cannot ignore the negative impact that increasing wealth disparity has on liberty because it leads to an increasing adversarial relationship between those with great wealth & those being left behind. Inevitably, as the gap widens, something will have to give, and hopefully it's not liberty that cracks first.</p>