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Tom Perkins incensed the Internet (again), when he suggested Thursday that only taxpayers should get the right to vote and that the wealthiest Americans who pay the most in taxes should get more votes. Yep, you read that right.
The sentiment is especially offensive when you consider the demographics associated with the statement (read: white and male), but it isn't the most absurd thing he's said. That would be a letter Perkins wrote to The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 24, in which he compared "the progressive war on the American 1 percent, namely the 'rich' "Š" to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, particularly that the 1 percent face a "rising tide of hatred" akin to Kristallnacht, a series of coordinated attacks against Jews in 1938.
The strangest thing about the letter isn't that he thought that or even admitted it in a paper of record. What boggles the mind is the outpouring of support he received from like-minded ultrarich Americans and conservatives.
Billionaire investor Sam Zell, appearing on Bloomberg TV recently, denounced what he termed "the politics of envy," arguing the 1 percent have earned their position in society. "I guess my feeling is that [Perkins] is right: The 1 percent are being pummeled because it's politically convenient to do so," he said in an exchange with anchor Betty Liu. "The problem is that the world and this country should not talk about envy of the 1 percent. It should talk about emulating the 1 percent. The 1 percent work harder. The 1 percent are much bigger factors in all forms of our society."