But in many cases, it's not about the policy -- Leonsis even says that under certain conditions, he'd be willing to pay "even more taxes." The problem is Obama makes them feel guilty for being rich. The bulk of Leonsis's post is about setting up his street cred: He came from humble roots, working-class parents whose great ambition was for him to be "produce department manager at a grocery store in my neighborhood." Not that there's anything wrong with that, he says. "I would have been proud to work hard to become a leader in a grocery store and I bet I would have been good at it, too. By luck and hard work, my career took a different path." Now he owns owns 50 hours on NetJet for the "rare occasion" he needs a private jet. Look, he's got a "nice home with a housekeeper" -- but only one. Most of the time he takes the Acela, okay? (That's only $232 for a one-way ticket from Washington to New York.) "I have never seen our President on the train, have you?" Leonsis sneers. "I bet there is more staff at the White House though? And Camp David."

These are not complaints about marginal tax rates or individual mandates. This is a guy who feels like he's being told he should be ashamed for his lifestyle by a rich guy who lives like a king (for now). But even those who have major policy disagreements seem to ditch political economics for some psychosocial fears. The National Review's Daniel Foster laments what all this rich-bashing has done to the national character -- people don't aspire to be like rich people anymore:

Look, resenting the rich is nothing new in America, and it doesn't -- in and of itself -- constitute "class warfare." ... But there was an America I've heard about -- I wasn’t around to see it -- where that resentment was countered and constrained by admiration and ambition. That is, by the desire to one day be rich oneself.

But why even bother trying to get rich when, as Hanson laments, the perks of being rich aren't even that great anymore. "Some of the less-well-off go to school for near free on scholarship packages to state universities. Other students pay $200,000 for a four-year private college -- sometimes for the prestige of the degree rather than any quantifiably better education," Hanson writes. It's a great point. Those who went to state schools on Pell grants often tell themselves that rich people didn't learn anything with their fancy Ivy educations. It sure is nice to hear it from an actual rich person.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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