Two high-profile billionaires have made the headlines for different reasons in the past two weeks. Plutocrat extraordinaire David Koch and New York City Michael Bloomberg may not seem like they have that much in common other than both having 11-figure net worths, but both have made it their life's purpose to exploit their wealth and influence to control the people whom they observe while looking out from their penthouse window, only with a different subset of priorities.
David Koch uses his money and influence to rule the world....to be the 21st century embodiment of John Galt blowing up buildings to stick it to the man. He wants the peasantry under his bootheel in his factories and refineries...and in other people's factories and refineries. Mike Bloomberg uses his money and influence to impose his moral values, a variation on what Jerry Falwell would do if he had billions of dollars and the bully pulpit as Mayor of America's largest city. He wants the peasantry under his bootheel in his city's sidewalks, restaurants and bars.....and in other cities' sidewalks, restaurants, and bars.
False equivalence, you say? To an extent, yes. The degree of wreckage that David Koch's empire is capable of is orders of magnitude worse than anything Bloomberg's agenda could aspire to. But this is what it's like to be a working person in America today, facing a full-frontal assault on your livelihood and your lifestyle. On both sides you face megalomaniacal billionaires wagging their fingers in your face and telling you that you're living your life wrong....that you're too indulgent....that you're a freeloading parasite foisting costs on taxpayers.....and that you need to sacrifice in service to these false gods.