Steyn And The Bipartisan Elite

By Steve Hynd

For once, Mark Steyn has a point.

When you�re the presiding genius of the Brokest Nation in History, enjoying the lifestyle of the super-rich while allegedly in �public service� sends a strikingly Latin American message.

Million dollar buses, 40 car motorcades, $100 million private jets for 150 mile trips, holidays in Martha's Beach resorts: these do not speak of the head of state of a Republic, unless the word prefacing it is "banana". As Steyn points out, America's transport security is supposed to be the best in the world - due to those TSA guys searching Granny's knickers and little Tommy's lunchbox - and the monarchs of some other nations do just fine flying commercial first class.

But the hypocrisy of Steyn, a close friend of crooked millionaire Conrad Black, writing from his New Hampshire home of the need to "do more with less" in these days of American austerity is poignant. No mention from Steyn of republican Trump's excesses, or the immense, private-gated and rent-a-cop guarded, compounds of the Kochs. And that Steyn hopes Rick Perry will be the man to set the tone "by forgoing much of the waste and excess that attends the imperial presidency" is, forgive me, rich.

Here are some highlights from Perry's publicly-funded personal spending bill, via RCP:

• $700,000 for the "lavish" rental home where Perry has lived for nearly four years, while the governor's mansion is being renovated.

• $8,400 for maintenance on the house's heated pool.

• $1,001 for Neiman Marcus window coverings

• $1,000 for repairs on a filtered ice machine.

• $70 for a home subscription to Food & Wine magazine (this one is sure to draw populist ire).

Perry has previously come under fire for taxpayer-financed house bills. In 2007, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee � a conservative favorite who lived in a trailer while his governor's residence was under repair � suggested Perry should follow his example and find a good mobile home. Perry's response: "Texas ain't Arkansas."

So Steyn is mostly missing what could have been his point: all of our political elite are distanced, by virtue of privilege, from those they are supposed to represent. Mitt Romney tops the chart among current presidential hopefuls at $250 million.  Meanwhile, Roll Call has the list today of the fifty richest members of Congress. All are wealthier than Obama's estimated $5 million personal worth (and Obama is pretty poor by presidential standards).

The Roll Call list tops out with Republican representative Michael McCaul of Texas, worth an estimated $294 million. There are plenty Dems on the list too, starting with John Kerry at $193 million. All told, these fifty members of Congress are sitting on around $1.6 trillion in personal wealth. In 2008, the average net worth of a Senator was almost $14 million. The average net worth of a Congressman was $4.6 million.

And you wonder why your congresscritters and president care more about the national debt driving interest rates than they worry about jobs or social safety nets...

America is governed by a bi-partisan coalition of asset-strippers, who have become detached from the common people by virtue of their wealth and therefore find it easy to treat the common people and the nation as if they were "the other", just another corporation to be parcelled up and sold off. "Take what isn't nailed down and split, who cares what happens after you're gone." Their only interest is in delaying the day when they must flee the scene, so that they can continue asset-stripping U.S.A. Inc.

Steyn, in his rush to bash Obama the socialist-who-isn't, has failed to let his readers known that the rich have eaten all the pie. But this isn't a Democrat vs Republican problem, it's a have vs have not problem.