Emery Rose’s letter in the Nov. 15  “Great Neck News” was a response to a letter of mine which appeared on Oct. 25. Let me point out the fatuous nature of his arguments.

I made the case that Jews are, for the most part, liberals. I presented evidence from presidential elections substantiating this. I believe that what annoyed Rose was that I stated Jews “ought to be” liberals. I pointed to much in our history and tradition which leads me to this conclusion. I stand by that belief. 

I then asked the question: what makes people either liberal or conservative? One explanation came from the field of psychiatry. 

Dr. Robert Lindner postulated that liberals identify with the underdog and right wingers with the oppressors. I scrupulously avoided saying that this explains the behavior of Tea Party types, although that is the conclusion Rose drew. 

But all of this is but prelude to the seriously misleading statements made by Rose.

He states that there is “a collective disease of progressivism in the Jewish community.” 

Rose should explain this to senators Boxer, Mikulski, Sanders, Blumenthal, Feinstein, Levin, Stabenow Wyden and Schumer – all Democrats – all liberals – and all Jews. These folk would never consider progressivism a disease, but rather something to be worn as a badge of honor.

Rose then launches into an anti-Marxist tirade which, I suspect, is not based on any extensive reading on the subject. 

Rose cites Marx’s famous dictum: “From each according to his abilities (Rose here substitutes the word capacities for abilities) to each according to his needs.” I wish he had mentioned “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” 

For here, Marx was “right on”. In 2005, the top 1 percent of Americans received 21.8 percent of the nation’s income. The gap between the top 10 percent and the rest of the country has increased steadily over the last 25 years. 

If statistics aren’t your thing, consider this. The last time we saw a gap this wide was in the Gilded Age. 

In 2005, average executive pay among Fortune 500 companies was $11.3 million and this does not include stock options which can double or triple these salaries. There’s a name for a society with this kind of mal-distribution of wealth – it’s plutocracy – not democracy.

Now I can just hear all the Ayn Rand enthusiasts arguing that the self-made men who rise to the top deserve every penny they receive. What unadulterated malarkey! 

There are CEOs who have presided over the decline of their companies and then retire with “golden parachutes.” 

If we had real capitalism, these men would be held accountable for their failures.

Now, let’s take a look at those who haven’t made it in our society. 

Rose states that there’s been shift in public policy “formulated around the needs of the worst and the dumbest.” And later these folks are referred to as “hordes.” 

I assume he has in mind the “entitlement” policies which include Social Security and Medicare. Since I benefit from both of these, does that make me dumb and part of the horde? 

There are 55 million Social Security recipients and 44 million on Medicare. All these folk have contributed to these programs so they are not supping at the public trough, but are getting back what they have contributed over their working lives. 

These are not socialist schemes unleashed by big government bureaucrats against defenseless millionaires and billionaires. Even Warren Buffitt, the second richest man in the U.S., acknowledges the inequities in our tax code. He points out that he pays at a 17.7 percent rate while his receptionist pays 30 percent. 

He gets away with this by making sure most of his income is in the form of capital gains and dividends which are taxed at a mere 15 percent. How very convenient for the super rich!

Conservatives make the claim that the poor are indolent. There is no proof of this. What we know is that a poor white and a poor black do not have the same opportunities to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Opportunities are a function or race and history. We also know that we have, today, in America what economists call the “working poor.” These are people who have a minimum wage job ( or two) but can’t support a family of four. As long as the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour we will have children who go to bed hungry each night. 

Were those Horatio Alger stories a myth foisted on us by greedy robber barons?

Rose makes another specious claim. “An insurance policy is not a real or good insurance policy unless you are paying for yourself AND A BUM.” (emphasis mine) I wonder if Rose understands how insurance works. The underlying concept is “shared risk.” With health insurance you start paying when you are young and healthy and this contribution most likely goes to the sick and elderly. This is only unfair if the young don’t reach the stage in life when they become the recipients. 

Libertarians argue that individuals should be smart enough to save on their own for that “rainy day.” Ahhh! In a perfect universe I could agree, but that’s not the world we live in. 

The average Joe is not an investments expert…yes… the government actually does a better job. It is also possible that many in our society don’t have the discipline to save, so the government does it for them. 

I know this rankles government haters, who would punish the poor for their lack of foresight. 

Does anyone remember “compassionate conservatism?” And who are these “bums” that Rose alludes to? 

Such vitriolic rhetoric explains why conservatives are considered mean-spirited.

Finally, Rose explains what led to his Tea Party affiliation. 

“I worked hard, and perhaps harder than someone else who had a less challenging childhood…Nobody owed me anything.” 

And there we have it. The self-made man, overcoming insurmountable obstacles who by dint of extraordinary efforts “makes it.” Lindner is redeemed. 

This is the school of thought which argues…I suffered so why shouldn’t you?

The word “coercion” is anathema to the Tea Party. At their rallies, there are myriad signs reading “Don’t tread on me.” 

But if Gordon Gekko could argue that “greed is good,” I’ll make the case that “coercion is good.” 

Parents are coerced into having their children vaccinated against smallpox and polio, but this saves countless lives. The state forces us to take a drivers’ test, but this prevents accidents and death. 

Compulsory education laws are just that…compulsory…but thank God for them. 

The Preamble to the Constitution speaks of establishing justice and promoting the general welfare, There is no way to fulfill these promises without the federal government interceding on behalf of all of us.

W.H. Ferry, a distinguished scholar, gave an address in August 1962 about myths and their relationship to the problems faced by our nation. 

One such myth was “that the accumulated greed of 180 million people will add up to a rosy sum called the general welfare. 

According to this notion, the common good ensues when each person industriously pursues his own advantage.” These are the ideas of Adam Smith, Ayn Rand, Friedrich von Hayek, Milton Friedman and the Tea Party. 

The only problem with them is that they’re wrong.

Hal Sobel

Great Neck