Many people are chronically angry. Often they take their anger about personal or job problems, and displace it onto politics. Politicians fan the flames of that anger for their own purposes. But what are people really angry at?

Angry at “the rich.”

Did you ever buy a new car, only to have someone key it? That happened to me, but I couldn’t understand the reason. If I see a fine car, I might think I would like to have one like it. But what satisfaction could it give me to mar the paint? It doesn’t enrich me by one cent. It doesn’t help me buy a new car. It just takes something away from the owner.

That’s the essence of Marxism, whether it’s the straight booze of communism, or the watered-down socialism that modern liberalism has become. That’s the real reason for soak-the-rich taxes. After all, income tax isn’t a tax on being rich. The very rich could live on their savings and tax-free income, and pay no income tax if they wished.

A high income tax is a tax on getting rich. If you doubt this, ask a family of four if they’re “rich” with an income of $80,000. With the expenses of living and educating children, this family is far from being rich. The real effect of high taxes is to prevent them from ever becoming rich. But to the Democrats, they’re “rich” and deserve to be soaked. If Democrats are the party of the “little guy,” why are there more rich Democrats than rich Republicans in Congress?

Everyone’s favorite tax plan is the one that soaks someone else. But everyone can’t have someone else to soak. In the end, we’re soaking ourselves. We’re preventing ourselves from becoming rich. Our envy of “the rich” is blinding us to the reality that we’re venting our anger on ourselves. We’re keying our own car.

Angry at the “far Right.”

Some liberals call Republicans “Nazis.” A former friend of mine did just that. In doing so, these people are doing one of two things. Either they are claiming Republicans commit genocide – a horrible lie. Or they are trivializing the Holocaust by equating Nazis with moderate conservatives. In either case, this slander is hateful and disgusting.

In addition to the political Right, we have the religious Right. Now there’s really a target for anger. They want to do truly awful things. They want to keep “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Liberals believe the state isn’t under anything – the state is supreme. How dare anyone suggest that the state can’t do as it pleases, but is subject to a higher law?

Not only that, but the religious Right actually wants schools to have Christmas and Easter vacations, instead of winter and spring breaks. They want Christmas trees on campuses, which might make some people feel “excluded.” They want the Ten Commandments posted in schoolrooms and courtrooms. That might give students and judges the idea that they can’t do whatever they please. Imagine that!

Angry at “greedy corporations.”

Democratic candidates and liberal media love to bash big drug companies that make “huge” profits. Would these ingrates prefer drug companies to lose money and go broke? Where do they think lifesaving new drugs come from – Martians in flying saucers?

Where did AZT, the first drug useful against AIDS, come from? Scientists at Burroughs Wellcome, a large drug company, developed some of the first anti-cancer drugs. They tested AZT but didn’t find it useful. When AIDS appeared, they pulled drugs off the shelf and tested them. AZT worked. But was Burroughs Wellcome praised for its cancer and AIDS research? No, it was condemned for “profiteering.” But without the profit motive, there would have been no AIDS treatment for years.

Roast goose is delicious, but where will we get more golden eggs?

Americans, and scientists working in America, earn over 60% of the recent Nobel Prizes in medicine. But America accounts for only 4% of the world’s population, and only 24% of the total domestic products of the richest nations. That is, we produce over two times more medical advances than our wealth can account for, and over 15 times more than our population can account for. Yet liberals claim that our health-care system is “broken” and needs “reform.”

The Soviet Union lasted 74 years, and Communist China is 70 years old. Where are the medical discoveries from Marxist nations? Yet no one claims that these health-care systems are “broken.” On the contrary, “progressives” like Michael Moore laud the health-care system of Cuba, where ordinary people can barely get an aspirin. And they want to emulate the health-care system of the United Kingdom, which has the worst cancer-survival statistics in Western Europe.

In contrast, our “broken” system has the best survival statistics in the world for most cancers – indeed an odd concept of “broken.”

A locomotive costs more to operate than a freight car, but without it the train can’t move forward. We create a major share of medical advances in the world. This costs money, but it saves countless lives, here and worldwide. Keying your car is annoying. Depriving you of new drugs can kill you.

Angry at “deniers.”

That human-caused global warming will cause a worldwide disaster is a pseudo-religious dogma. This is called “settled science,” but science is never “settled.” It is a method, not a dogma. Those who dare to question this dogma are called “deniers,” a term akin to “heretics.”

They are even compared to Holocaust deniers, as if denying a historical fact is equivalent to doubting a hypothesis about what may occur in the future. Extremists go so far as to propose that “deniers” be imprisoned or executed. How? Burned at the stake? But wait – that would worsen global warming.

Angry at fathers.

Many people had fathers who were drunk or abusive, or just “took off.” Many people were raised by single mothers who did the best they could, but couldn’t make up for the absent male role model. Many people are angry at the father they had, or the father they never had.

One need not be a Freudian to see that anger at a father is easily displaced onto any authority figure. Who is the local authority figure? The police officer. Who is the top authority figure in the universe? Our Father in Heaven.

And one need not be a prophet to predict that the more we have broken homes and absent fathers, the more we will see anger at authority figures.

People who spend their lives angry at God are likely to ignore His commandments. That describes much of the Western world.

People who spend their lives angry at fathers are likely to mistrust their leaders, yet want the government to take care of them – like a mother. That describes many liberals.

Just angry.

Anger is a risky emotion. It inhibits clear thinking and can lead to unwise actions. We would do well to control our anger and direct it where it belongs – at terrorists, murderers, rapists, and child molesters – rather than at those who disagree with us politically.

● Angry people think they are unhappy because you are happy.
● Angry people think they are poor because you are doing well.
● Angry people think their nation is poor because your nation is doing well.
● Angry people think their methods don’t work because your methods do.
● Angry people would rather key your car than figure out how to afford their own.
● Angry people would rather knock down your office towers than build their own.
● Angry people do most of the evil in the world.

Angry people may be useful to demagogues, but they make up a mob, not a nation. They are good at destroying, not building. Look at Al Qaeda and ISIS – what have they built lately? Righteous indignation at those who hurt others is one thing, but free-floating anger is something else entirely.

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