It was bound to happen

Well it finally happened. We knew it was bound to happen and it did. We just wondered what took so long?
My wife Kristi was on a family outing last weekend with Renee that was little more than their doing their family duties by paying a visit to a beloved family member who is really struggling with her health.
Kristi returned home in not a good frame of mind. When I questioned her, I was told that during the trip “we” (that would be her and me) had been labeled as “one percenters” by two other family members. She was told that we should do alot more to take care of everyone.
It may have been the ten thousandth time she was made to feel like a slug for earning her way through life.
Only a person prone to blindly adopting and defending each plank of the so-called progressive’s view of the world would ever dare to toss out such an offensive label to a fellow family member.

The "One Percenters" and their kids on Renee's wedding day

This brings up a serious question. What exactly does a committed Progressive Democrat mean when he or she calls a family member a "one percenter?" To some that’s a tough question. But it is really not too tough. First, this is what they don’t mean by that term. When a progressive calls fellow family members like Kristi and me "one percenters" what they for sure don’t mean by the dig is to give any credit whatsoever for any (or all) of the following:

1.      Paying our own way through college while holding down job(s) to pay our bills

2.       Working continuously to support our family as well as local, county, state, and federal governments and also helping other family members when we can

3.       Saving a substantial portion of our income for rainy days

4.       Taking the risks of starting businesses with our precious savings and enduring the continuous strain of performing duties as a managers of those businesses

5.       Choosing to pay for our own children’s college educations instead of cutting them off for decisions they made that we disagreed with

6.       Continuously paying all time record high amounts and percentages of our incomes to the Social Security and Medicare pools to support the elderly who decided to elect people that squandered the contributions they made (and we still make)

7.       Paying tens of thousands of dollars each year (not just a few hundred) in property taxes to support a failing public education system

8.       Making tens of thousands of dollars in payrolls each month enabling dozens of others to also pay their bills and support their local, county, state, and federal governments

Nope, instead of offering any credit for these eight efforts, or simply refraining from passing judgment on them period, the inference was to Kristi that whatever she and her spouse (me) have been doing in terms of conducting our adult lives and pulling our share, it is simply not enough. And of course these derogatory remarks, which were seemingly cleverly disguised (only to those who made them) as the playfully benign "one percenter" label, were directed towards Kristi while she was on a selfless mercy mission.

When I asked Kristi what her response was to the "one percenter" dig, she told me she  was angered and suggested that we pay “a shitload of taxes” to support their favorite causes (themselves). To which she was further chastised for using the term "shitload."

My reaction to her experience was muted. This sort of thing has happened a shitload of times before. And that shitload actually explains my regular absence from these types of festivities. However, I did immediately look at my wife's shaking with rage hands to see if they had bites on them. I did so because I know she normally picks up the restaurant tab for this entire group of "99 percenters" almost everytime they decide to dine together. Being a progressive is pretty easy.