Here is Peter Wehner's latest blog post. The driving principle behind progressivism is not, as progressives would have you believe, providing for the disadvantaged. It is punishing the advantaged. Providing for the disadvantaged is an afterthought, a pretext, a rationalization. As for why there is such antipathy for the wealthy on the left, I don't rightly know. Part of it, undoubtedly, is envy. Academic progressives think highly of themselves, but earn far less than CEOs. This infuriates them, for, while they deny being materialistic, they know that social status and power are functions of wealth, and they crave social status and power. The only way to exact their revenge for this "unjust" state of affairs is to (1) attack the wealthy personally, (2) deny that the wealthy deserve their wealth (think here of John Rawls), and (3) try to confiscate "undeserved" wealth. This essay by Robert Nozick is instructive.
“Intellectual Contortions”
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