‘96 Campaign and Economic Justice

Re “The Class Struggle Is Over--the Wealthy Win,” Commentary, July 15:

What planet does Richard Goodwin live on? In his diatribe he states that “the value of securities has increased by $2 trillion in the last year and a half. Almost none of that went to the politicians’ much beloved middle class; none of it went to the poor.” On the contrary, the middle class was the chief beneficiary of that increase in value.

Goodwin conveniently ignores the fact those securities are mostly owned by pension funds and IRAs, the chief beneficiaries being members of the middle class and, to a lesser extent, the working poor whose employers help fund their stake in those pension plans.

Goodwin is still fighting a battle that his side rightly won over 60 years ago.

GEORGE BURDITT

Burbank

* Amid the usual beating drums for class warfare, Goodwin’s column contained a remarkable statement: “Wealth is derived from power.”

He’s dead wrong. Wealth is derived from hard work. (Sure, some--lottery winners, heirs--luck into it, but luck isn’t power.) Wealth is created by people who sacrifice years of their lives, study especially hard, put in thousands of extra hours, take chances, don’t give up, etc. Goodwin is wrong to resent rewarding such people. Society benefits more from this group than any other.

Perhaps this thesis is to be expected from Goodwin, who spent so many years in Washington. That’s the one place where money doesn’t have to be earned--if you’ve got the power, you just take it from the people by fiat.

ALBERT SPENSER

Los Angeles

* Goodwin says we all know that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

In a democracy, the government is supposed to operate for the welfare of all. But campaigns are expensive; it is the wealthy who pay for them. In appreciation, the government is run for the benefit of the wealthy.

However, there is another pattern which has also appeared several times in history. As Pearl Buck said of China, “The poor always come when the rich get too rich,” something which they did a number of times. In modern history, it caused the French and Bolshevik revolutions. They involved violence.

Goodwin suggests that the increasing disparity between rich and poor in America is causing political opposition within the United States. It is also possible that this disparity is behind the gang wars, the drive-by shootings and the militia movement. If these are the first rumbles of violent opposition, we better look out.

JUANITA MATASSA

Santa Ana