Politics of Envy

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Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ‘reboot’ got off to a disastrous start today, with his proposal for an economically illiterate cap on maximum earnings. Political ideology was self-categorized on a five-point scale from (1) far-left, center-left, middle of the road, center-right, to (5) far-right. Finally, participants completed the DES ( Smith et al., 1999). This scale consists of eight items including: (1) I feel envy every day. (2) The bitter truth is that I generally feel inferior to others. (3) Feelings of envy constantly torment me. (4) It is so frustrating to see some people succeed so easily. (5) No matter what I do, envy always plagues me. (6) I am troubled by my feelings of inadequacy. (7) It somehow does not seem fair that some people seem to have all the talent. (8) Frankly, the success of my neighbors makes me resent them. Participants respond to these items on a five-point scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. The individual DES scores were summed for analyses. We also examine just items that focus on material wealth or success (items 4, 7, and 8) as it could be argued, as pointed out by a reviewer, that these most closely tap into the type of envy implied when the term “the politics of envy” is used. Results In chapter six – Envy as the Path to Power – Hendershott comes close to the insight of Steven D. Smith’s recent “Pagans and Christians in the City” where modern politics was explained as a fight between those with a transcendent religion, i.e., conservative Christians, and those with an immanent religion, i.e., secularists. Building on Christian libertarian Doug Bandow, Hendershott writes: Marriage and family also significantly enhance income mobility. Citing Michael W. Cox’s book Myths of Rich and Poor, economist Walter Williams notes that "only 7 percent of top income earners live in a ‘nonfamily’ household, compared to 37 percent of the bottom income category." Married couples tend to have larger, sustained incomes, in part because of the prevalence of multiple earners in those families. Family poverty is largely a single-parent phenomenon—Current Population Survey figures for 2007 show that 24.5 percent of all single-parent families lived below the poverty line, compared to only 4.9 percent of married-couple families.

In 1908, University of Berlin historian Dietrich Schafer wrote a scathing evaluation aimed at preventing Georg Simmel, one of the founders of modern sociology, from being given an academic chair at the University of Heidelberg. The son of Jewish converts, Georg Simmel, whose work is still widely read and respected by sociologists and political philosophers today, was described by Schaefer as “an Israelite through and through, in his external appearance, his demeanor, and the character of his intellect.” Envious and resentful descriptions of Simmel’s talents were woven throughout Schafer’s evaluation of the popular lecturer, who was accused of possessing a “pseudointellectual manner” that is “greatly valued by certain circles of listeners in Berlin.”” The best way to combat the vice of envy is to understand true worth. For this, we must look to heroes. Some would say that a hero is one who saves you. More than that, I say a hero is one who inspires you to save others. He is a person like us who surpasses us. A hero is a human Call to Greatness.I’ve criticized Critical Race Theory and popularizers such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo at length in my book All One in Christ: A Catholic Critique of Racism and Critical Race Theory . As I show in the book, the thesis that inequity as such is unjust is a central theme of this movement.

Yet, for some reason, the decisions and choices as to how our Government is spending taxpayer money are not being reported on in the same manner. Aquinas discusses envy in several places, and in a systematic way in Summa Theologiae Part II-II, Question 36 and On Evil , Question X. Envy, as he says , involves “sorrow for another’s good.” The good in question might be anything. It could be money, talent, fame, a nice house, a beautiful wife, or a happy family. It could be peace of mind, knowledge, moral virtue, spiritual insight, closeness to God. The very fact that the other person has this good is resented by, and experienced as painful to, the envious person. For the envious, says Nietzsche, the supreme victory would be to get those they envy to adopt their perverse inversion of morality and thereby come to despise themselves the way the envious despise them. In On the Genealogy of Morals , he says: Recently, social scientists have tried to measure the harm done to an individual’s well-being by the knowledge that someone else is relatively better off. This "happiness research" finds that relative income disparities dilute one’s happiness more than absolute increases in wealth advance it (at least above certain income levels). Consequently, for society to maximize happiness, it is argued, income inequality must be significantly reduced.I also show that the thesis is more dogmatically asserted than argued for, and that what arguments these writers do give for their claims rest on crude logical fallacies, easily exposed errors of social science, and the rhetorical tactic of shrilly abusing as “racist” anyone who dares disagree with them. These writers also demonize Western civilization, which they claim upholds inequity, as “racist,” “white supremacist,” and otherwise uniquely oppressive. They favor policies of racial discrimination against those alleged to benefit from “white privilege,” and a program of reeducation to bring discomfort and self-doubt to those whose minds have purportedly been molded by “whiteness,” “white consciousness,” and “white fragility.” So far just Bulb, the UK’s fastest-growing energy supplier, has warned of the risk of a third rise, but many others will be considering similar action. Wholesale electricity and gas prices have marched upwards. Culprits include higher oil prices, Europe’s heatwave ramping up electricity use, and some power output falling, plus the need to replace depleted gas reserves after a cold winter.