BY GARY JOHNSON
Reprinted from Loose Change at TCBMag.com

Hey brother, can you spare a dime?

On second thought, keep it. . . . I’d prefer that people like me.

Two-thousand twelve is not a good year to be rich. I haven’t seen rich-bashing like this since my days as a 10-year-old caddy at Minnehaha Country Club in Sioux Falls. My pals and I would deride the potbellied, Cadillac-driving, cigar-chomping rich guys whose golf bags we lugged around on hot summer afternoons, chasing down their shanks, duck hooks, and chili dips for a 25-cent tip.

Although we had nothing but contempt and fear for these guys, not a day went by that we didn’t think to ourselves, “I’m going to work my butt off and someday have a bunch of money just like them.” Unfortunately for me and some chums—Jaybird, Kenny the Torch, Boo Radley, Punjab, Laff-A-Lot, and Bucky—that plan didn’t work out so well.

Not to worry! Times have changed. It sucks to be rich.

Consider Republican candidate Mitt Romney, a wealthy, upstanding, clean-cut patrician. Every time he opens his mouth, people accuse him of bragging up his wealth. Even a guy with $200 million can’t buy a break. Ironically, the criticisms are mostly coming from his own party! Mysteriously, the party of the rich, powerful, and wealthy has decided to eat its young. I don’t recall the Republican party EVER being so negative about the net worth of its candidates. If anything, wealth has been the leitmotiv and point of pride of Lincoln’s Party—until now.

Is this a major rebranding effort, a mid-life crisis, or a nervous breakdown?

It was a mere decade ago when America re-elected the uber-rich son of a Bush, a very, very uber-rich oil man in his own right—the darling of the Republican party. And his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, though from humble beginnings, represented everything vogue about the then-party of old white guys with money and influence. So what the hell happened? Has America found its chops, rightly acknowledging that greedy people almost brought this great country to its knees? Is the 99 percent movement really taking hold of the mainstream American psyche?

To compound the bashing, several surveys have been released that make the rich look even worse. One found that rich folks are disingenuous, insisting their favorite magazine is The New Yorker while their real favs are People and The Costco Connection. Per shame! Another survey indicates that rich people are more likely to take candy from children (this is so funny to me). They lie, cheat, are unethical, and they cut off pedestrians while driving. Folks, this is not propaganda from the Democratic National Committee, it’s from the National Academy of Sciences. The survey went on to say that rich people have feelings of entitlement and are inattentive to the consequences of their actions upon others. Another study done at the University of Minnesota supported the notion that the rich tend to be less sensitive to others, that the mere mention of money makes people less generous and less helpful.

Now hold on just a darn minute.

If the rich have such a total lack of empathy, how do we explain the over-the-top generosities of the richest men on earth, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates? How do we explain the social transformations initiated by two extremely wealthy presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson? How do we explain the annual increases in philanthropic giving?

Reverse elitism appears to be alive and well. Nothing new, really. After all, it’s been rampant in all corners of societies for decades, particularly in race and religion, so why should the rich be immune?

Reverse elitism is one of my favorite types of discrimination. It’s the center of Sarah Palin’s brand, something she has parlayed into millions of dollars in book sales from gullible fans. It’s Chris Rock’s whole comedy schtick, and it has been at the root of the supercilious technorati’s snobbery for two decades. Looks like we are witnessing a virulent, raunchy case of it in 2012. Goodness knows how long it may take for reason to overcome hysteria.

My guess is not until after Obama is re-elected.

Editor’s Note: Gary Johnson is President of MSP Communications in Minneapolis, MN and authors the blog Loose Change.