.. Everybody knows very well that there are
people like himself who succeeded where he himself failed. Everybody
knows that many of those he envies are self-made men who started from
the same point from which he himself started. Everybody is aware of his
own defeat. In order to console himself and to restore his self-
assertion, such a man is in search of a scapegoat.
He tries to persuade himself that he failed through no fault of his
own. He was too decent to resort to the base tricks to which his
successful rivals owe their ascendancy. The nefarious social order does
not accord the prizes to the most meritorious men; it crowns the
dishonest, unscrupulous scoundrel, the swindler, the exploiter, the
`rugged individualist.'"
In "The Virtue of Prosperity", Dinesh D'Souza accuses prosperity and
capitalism of inspiring vice and temptation. Inevitably, it provokes
envy in the poor and depravity in the rich.
With only a modicum of overstatement, capitalism can be depicted as the
sublimation of jealousy. As opposed to destructive envy - jealousy
induces emulation. Consumers - responsible for two thirds of America's
GDP - ape role models and vie with neighbors, colleagues, and family
members for possessions and the social status they endow.
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