By Sara Robinson, AlterNet
Posted on April 25, 2012, Printed on April 27, 2012
The self-made myth is one of the most cherished
foundation stones of the conservative theology. Nurtured by Horatio
Alger and generations of beloved boys' stories, It sits at the deep
black heart of the entire right-wing worldview, where it provides the
essential justification for a great many other common right-wing
beliefs. It feeds the accusation that government is evil because it only
exists to redistribute wealth from society's producers (self-made, of
course) and its parasites (who refuse to work). It justifies
conservative rage against progressives, who are seen as wanting to use
government to forcibly take away what belongs to the righteous wealthy.
It's piously invoked by hedge fund managers and oil billionaires, who
think that being required to reinvest any of their wealth back into the
public society that made it possible is "punishing success." It's the
foundational belief on which all of Ayn Rand's novels stand.
If you've heard it once from your Fox-watching
uncle, you've probably heard it a hundred times. "The government never
did anything for me, dammit," he grouses. "Everything I have, I earned.
Nobody ever handed me anything. I did it all on my own. I'm a self-made
man."
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