so i think we can all agree that ernst has given us yet another screwed up poll, with little or no chance of any useful information being gleaned from the answers provided. this is, however, a wonderful chance for those with such a bent to vent their frustrations at the very idea of privilege and for the rest of us to marvel at the naivete of their cause. after all, we all know that privilege exists, whether it is earned or merely passed from one generation to the next, and that the very point of privilege is to influence the world in a manner that is advantageous to the privileged. poor ernst seems to be rather perturbed over the fact that such influence exists and he is far from alone. what he and those like him seem to have missed is that our government is just as prone as anything else to the influence of the wealthy and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it.
instead of bemoaning our fate as mere pawns of the power of wealth, maybe we should instead concentrate on minimizing the dangers of a government influenced by privilege. it would seem the only intelligent step would be to limit the influence of government in our lives. we can rule the marketplace by sheer numbers and our personal freedoms can only be legally infringed on by the state. by allowing government to influence the marketplace, we allow privilege to abscond with a bit more of the power of the people. by allowing government to manipulate our motives through such means as hate crimes legislation and the creation of protected classes, we allow those who influence government into the last refuge of the free man, our minds.
privilege exists, get over it. privilege creates influence, get over that too. instead of whining about the unfairness of what we cannot change, we should quit handing over the power of the individual to the institutions of government and start using it ourselves. i realize that this means we must also take responsibility for our actions and some of you may not be up to the task, but it's a hell of a lot better than weeping over life's inevitabilities.