A funny term, presumably advanced by the texts of Marx and Engels. In American politics, it's often used by conservatives to attack, e.g., "the politics of envy" - translation: some "liberal" is bitching about tax breaks that favor the rich or corporations. I propose a new definition: the assault on or demonization of the powerless by the powerful, often in the guise of offering "solutions" (as in "final"?). See: unions, welfare reform, school vouchers, flat tax.

The political and social conflicts between those with money and economic security and those without stable incomes.

What many American politicians say is a "bad thing."

They claim that policies that discourage investment, like the capital gains tax, are inherently evil. Their idea is that any judicial or legislative remedy to economic inequity in this country is counterproductive and fruitless. When speaking on these issues they often criticize the opponents position as encouraging class warfare.

Which brings up two other questions:
Is there already class warfare in this country?
If there is, who is winning?

Just curious.

Class warfare is an concept based on the fallacious idea that economics is a zero-sum game, i.e. if I am richer, you must be poorer. Class warfare rhetoric is primarily used by the Democratic party to scare their constituency into thinking that the rich are out to get them. It is also used to justify any number of wealth-redistribution schemes and entitlement programs, in which wealth is confiscated from people with high incomes and distributed to people with low or no income. We are very near to the point at which more than 50% of the U.S. electorate pays no income tax, and is totally dependent on the government for all of their needs.

It has been said, in reference to democracies, that once the electorate figures out that they can vote themselves cash out of the treasury, the decline of that nation is assured. I believe this was originally opined in regard to the ancient Greek city-state of Athens.

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