Chris Matthews’ Liberal Ivory Tower

A lot has been written about Chris Matthews today, not only here at The Right Sphere but on other sites as well, and I thought I would add my two cents with this post.

First, consider the following. Chris Matthews currently resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland. To be precise (I think I read the map correctly) his residence is located in a township called Chevy Chase Village. This is his humble abode:

As of the 2010 census, the town of Chevy Chase had a population that is 95.9% white, 1.6% Asian, and 0.6% black or African American. The township also had over 65% of households making more than $200,000 a year. So like many other high profile liberals/progressives, Chris Matthews is not residing in a very diverse neighborhood.

So besides the fact that it’s a fairly plush neighborhood,  what does Chris Matthews’ residence tell us?

For starters, it shows that Chris Matthews and others like him have no intention of living in those neighborhoods where real diversity and poverty actually exist. It’s much easier to beat the drum of diversity and drape your car in “COEXIST!”-stickers when you don’t have to be worried about the Prius getting stolen. So they stay in their plush neighborhoods where the residents only have come in contact with “diversity” in college courses taught by white, liberal, social science feminists.

And they’re not very likely to ever move to a diverse neighborhood. Let’s for a moment assume that the policies promoted by the left actually are intended to benefit the poor, and perhaps especially poor minorities. While these policies might be well-intended, they actually succeed in the opposite by locking poor Americans into dependency and destroying their self-reliance. As an example, consider the case of the minimum wage that I’ve mentioned before. Milton Friedman argued that the minimum wage was one of the most harmful policies for poor Americans, especially blacks, which have been imposed on the population of the United States.

It is easy to promote policies that cause more harm than good when you never have to live, or even visit, those neighborhoods that are affected by them. And if you do have to face reality, all that the likes of Chris Matthews are left with is to shout “racism!” at their political opponents when their damaging policies are highlighted.

So the Chris Matthews of this world continue to promote their policies, stubbornly advocating that they someday will help poor Americans to become successful. Meanwhile, it is simply a bonus that their policies lock poor Americans into government dependency. Not only are you assuring yourself of more votes, but having millions of “undocumented immigrants” stroll over the border into poverty in the United States also provides cheap gardening and other services.

All-in-all, government entitlement programs and open borders provide rich liberals with cheap labor and a bunch of votes in each election. Great success, so why should they care about if cities with over 80% unemployed Mexicans are going bankrupt? What happens in those cities is not their problem. If anything, it can be used as an excuse for greater government control. So the statists will keep singing the same tune until they have firmly split the United States between those who are dependent on the government and those who have to provide for those that are dependent.

Then ask yourself, what do you think the dependent class will do when the government runs out of money and benefits to hand out?