U.S. Senate candidate Clark Durant, during
a fundraising event at Calvin
College Occupy Wall Street
But that wasn't the worst thing Durant said
to the group of College Conservatives. (I've always applauded College
Conservative for not wasting their 20s and 30s having their compassion and
sympathy stomped out them. Best to get it out of the way early -- like chicken
pox -- and use that free time for something more constructive, such as
perfecting your golf swing.)
In regards to the wealth gap the movement
decries, Durant said, “I think it should be wider.”
“Does anybody think Steve Jobs should not
be (sic) in the 1 percent? He made life better for the 99 percent of the rest
of us. You want to create opportunities for people with their unique gifts,” he
said. “They have created value and wealth.”
I am forever grateful to Jobs for allowing
me to have access to the entire Stephen Sondheim catalog when at the gym, but
it's not like the guy cured heart disease or developed an alternative energy
source, ending our reliance on fossil fuels and ushering in a new era of peace
and prosperity. He didn't even create a silent vacuum cleaner. He was a
successful businessman who made billions. That's fine and all but don't try to
claim he wandered the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.
Durant also demonstrates a common
Republican misunderstanding of how our economic system works: The 1 percent
might command the nation's wealth but it's the 99 percent that actually creates
it. If Durant believes the iPad is the 21st century's version of the soft drink
you buy the world in order to live in perfect harmony because everyone's too
busy playing Angry Birds to pay attention to each other, then he has to
understand that all Jobs had was an idea without the people in the 99 percent
who helped him implement it. Code had to be written. Devices had to be manufactured.
But if Durant has his way, the people who did that would not have the spare
change necessary to buy a Coke.
Invoking the name of God several times,
Durant described himself as a “nerdy” kid whose life was profoundly changed by
the C.S. Lewis allegory “The Great Divorce.”
I sometimes think Randians pulled a
large-scale prank on Republicans and replaced the insides of all their Bibles
with copies of "Atlas Shrugged." Also, it's nice that "The Great
Divorce" moved a young Durant but it seems like his political goals are to
turn the United States
Durant is not entirely without empathy --
he "likened the fissures in the Republican Party of today as analogous to
the implosion of the Whig Party in the 1850s over the question of slavery. He
said the 2012 election is a 'defining moment' for the party, which must decide
whether or not to 'enslave' a generation with debt and spending."
Is metaphorical "slavery"
comparable to actual slavery? Let's see: Slaves working 18 hour days in 100
degree heat generating wealth in which they'll never share for a small few.
That does sound similar to circumstances today. But Durant might want to
reconsider which side he's own.
