New Orleans   The rich contras have been organizing in Illinois to elect their own and decimate the social safety net in that state, long regarded as a progressive, liberal bastion under both Democrats and Republicans on many core issues. Republicans tended to be moderates able to understand the value of unions and public employees and work with them, and Democrats tended to be Obama-better, but for the most part old school, go-along and get-along types. In recent years, a half-a-billionaire hedge funder was elected governor and has proven to be a radical “aginner” of the first order. An article in the Times detailed how unleashed personal spending and political donations from rich Republicans and Democrats are trying to unsettle the status quo there to make Illinois their personal playground rather than an even playing field.

The piece mentioned a small, but in-depth survey done under the auspices of Northwestern University a couple of years ago with anonymous one-percenters that opened wide a window into many of their highly retro conflations of their own interests with the rest of the population. I looked up the survey with the rather ungainly title, Survey of Economically Successful Americans and the Common Good. The takeaways aren’t pretty for the most part, some are self-serving in the extreme – these were interviews after all — and few were surprising, nonetheless it’s worth taking a look at what they say when they put their cards on the table.

 

**Members of the one percent feel federal and elected officials are part of their entitlement. About half had been in touch with their US Senators which is way more than Joe Public. They pick up the phone quickly, and they expect to be heard.

**Many tilt toward cutting, rather than expanding, popular entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. Most favor charter schools, merit pay and other market-oriented education reforms. More than two-thirds say the federal government “has gone too far in regulating business and free enterprise.”

** The one percent are obsessed with the federal budget no matter how little they understand it while members of the general public (57%) think the economy and jobs are the nation’s most pressing problem and only five percent of the general public thinks it is the deficit.

**The one percent may not like politics but they follow it closely compared to the general public and don’t mind spending money to buy their way.

**They claim to care about the common good, but can’t seem to prevent themselves from seeing it through their own experience, so believe market-based miracles and private philanthropy are solutions which they understand and support rather than government.

 

In short, if the rich of Illinois are any barometer, if you’re hoping for a fair deal and some decrease in inequality, don’t wish too much on the stars of the one-percent, unless you’re prepared for harder times, less support, and more disappointment.