After noting in his column of March 15,
that the faculty at Stanford University included
275 registered Democrats and just 36 registered
Republicans, Thomas Sowell suggested that politics
has intruded into the hiring process at many
colleges and universities: Professors must "...see
teaching as a means of social change -- meaning
change in leftward direction."
Others have made similar charges against
professional journalists. The fact that they are
overwhelmingly registered Democrats leads
conservative critics to try to convince the public
that they are "biased liberals."
Of course, one could be a liberal ideologue and
then go into teaching or journalism. But the more
likely sequence is that true professors and
journalists adhere to the scientific nature of
their professions, and objectively observe what's
actually going on in our society and the world. As
a result, most become liberals and vote
Democratic.
If professors and journalists do have a
consistent bias, it's the belief that government
must represent the interests of the total society:
Rich and poor, investors and workers, majorities
and minorities, as well as the physical
environment. As a result of this bias, if you
choose to call it a bias, they have no choice but
to antagonize the right-wing conservatives who are
causing most of today's economic and international
problems.
The disaster of Iraq, the explosion of
billionaires and multi-millionaires, the
skyrocketing deficit, the disintegration of the
middle class, and the huge income and wealth
disparity between America's rich and poor are now
obvious to everyone. It doesn't take any "bias" to
report or describe the disastrous effects of our
country's conservative policies of the past 30
years.
Clinton and NAFTA
This period also includes the time when Clinton
stole the Republican cause of globalization by
pushing NAFTA through Congress. At least Clinton
raised taxes on those who benefited most from
globalization, instead of granting them tax
breaks.
Today's right-wing conservative bias, on the
other hand, is that government should represent
the interests of the wealthy and the powerful at
the direct expense of the working-class.
Take, for example, taxes. Today's government
policy is deliberately designed to benefit our new
aristocracy at the direct expense of workers. For
example, Barron's -- probably our most influential
conservative financial publication for serious
investors -- noted: "By gradually taking capital
out of the tax base through reductions in levies
on dividends, capital gains and inheritances, Bush
is transforming the income tax into a pure tax on
wages. If Bush can finish his work, the capital
gains, dividend and estate taxes may disappear
entirely."
The wealth gap
How's that for an almost dictionary definition
of an aristocracy? We're creating an economic and
political system in which wealth is inherited, the
income from wealth is not taxed and the tax
burdens are shifted to those who work for a
living.
The relentless downward trend for good-paying
working-class jobs is occurring throughout our
country as we exchange jobs that pay decent wages
for jobs at poverty level wages. At the same time,
of course, the incomes of our new aristocracy --
top corporate executives, investors, and the
inheritors of wealth -- are skyrocketing. As a
matter of fact, the tax breaks that have been
given to our new aristocracy have probably
exacerbated the problem, as these people invest in
today's emerging economic powerhouses: China and
India. They put their money in those countries
with the lowest wages, worst working conditions
and the fewest protections of workers and the
environment.
It's about time that the voting public realized
that the majority of today's journalists are the
most objective reporters of what's happening in
our society, and most college professors are the
best objective analysts of economic, social and
environmental issues. The right-wing defenders of
America's wealthy and powerful, like Mr. Sowell,
are trying to divert attention from the failures
of right-wing conservative ideology by
discrediting the very ones we should be paying
attention to.
Chuck Kelly is a retired management
consultant in Tega Cay, and is author of "The
Destructive Achiever," "Power and Ethics in the
American Corporation," and "Class War in America."
He can be reached at mailto:kellycm@comporium.net
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