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Saturday, September 3, 2011

“Queen” Elizabeth: Betsy DeVos, nouveau-riche, anti-social queen of mean

Perhaps Betsy DeVos and the Detroit / Mackinac News would favor Labor Day renamed, to be called: ROBBER BARONS DAY.

Michigan workers are overpaid says mega-wealthy scion ""Queen Betsy" (Elizabeth Prince DeVos). Queenie is the very personification of the havoc and damage which can be done with huge grudge money that is targeted and directed in a heavily ideological manner. A benefactor such as Andrew Carnegie (stately Carnegie neighorhood Libraries across the country; "2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929",  Betsy is not!

Bold Contrast from "The Nouveau Riche and the Noblesse Oblige":
"Bono & Angelina Jolie have refocused the light on the dark areas of the world and are leading us in the charge back to the side of compassion and righteousness."
Betsy DeVos, by contrast, has been moving in a steady anti-righteous, anti-social direction. She has taken the charge from the late Milton Friedman, with whom she is enthralled, into the direction of radical individualism: Free to Choose, was the Friedman bible. "Queen" Elizabeth is hiking the same god-less path as Ayn Rand, who authored that tiny tome, The Virtue of Selfishness.

Queenie Elizabeth would be shocked to learn that her activities to enlarge her wealth by profiting from privatizing public schools and riding her wave of personal power and influence are anti-Jesus:

Jesus spoke this parable:
"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops."
This I will do: I will pull down my barns and build larger...There will I bestow all my fruits and my goods in enlarged storehouses. Thus the rich man will hoard his goods. Here is the beginning of his folly; to "hoard" his surplus instead of "using it" for the good of men. " 
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' That night his soul was collected by God."
--Luke 12:16-20
THE ROUTE OF THE TRULY COMPASSIONATE AND THOUGHTFUL RICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN 'NOBLESSE OBLIGE"

The Oxford English Dictionary suggests "noble ancestry constrains to honorable behavior; privilege entails to responsibility". Being a noble meant that one had responsibilities to lead, manage and so on. One was not to simply spend one's time in "idle pursuits."

One of the new noble, Betsy's "idle pursuits" are evil and destructive of community and democracy.

Betsy alone is a singular and special threat to the future of our great nation. Like all idle rich, Betsy has far greater responsibilities and societal obligations than she is willing to own.

Emanuele Corso, writes in his piece "Public education and the tentacles of profit":
"Privatizing public education is one potential source of new wealth being explored by the other-reality people. Achieving control of the public education system that has existed, for better or for worse, in the United States for more than a century requires operatives appointed to governmental offices of education willing to carry out the (PRIVATIZING) agenda... Why not start the takeover process with politicians who could use a little financial help with their campaigns provided by "foundations" dedicated to the (mislabeled concept of the) preservation of democracy?"
This take-down of public education is the clearly defined self-appointed task "Queen" Elizabeth has taken on; aided and abetted by unbelievable betrayal and loads of inherited money. To gain power, influence, and control Betsy needs mega-money at her personal disposal to direct and implement the privatization and parochiaid voucher schemes she promotes. Her campaign's successes have the huge potential for a source of "major" new money and profit for her and her ilk to carry on more anti-public/common good warfare.

To augment Betsy's anti-public school goals DeVos is allied with the Waltons, the Bros. Koch, the Chambers of Commerce, and Michigan's Mackinac Center. Here's a partial rundown from the afore mentioned article: Public education and the tentacles of profit:

"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) sponsored model bills aiming to privatize public education, eliminate teacher's unions, and make American universities adhere to the right wing and libertarian viewpoint. From the Nation series on ALEC and the Koch connections:
"The Kochs have given ALEC contributions exceeding $1 million-not including a half-million loaned to ALEC when the group had financial problems. The Kochs' mistrust of public education can be traced to their father, Fred, who ranted and raved that the National Education Association was a communist group and public-school books were filled with 'communist propaganda...."

Interestingly ALEC was behind the scenes in Wisconsin in the education fight. Read this article by Dr. William Cronin.

The contravening truth: Privilege bestowed on Wealth, in a democratic nation, must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege:
"In ethical discussion, (noblesse oblige) is sometimes used to summarize a moral economy wherein privilege must be balanced by duty towards those who lack such privilege or who cannot perform such duty. Finally, it has been used recently primarily to refer to PUBLIC RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE RICH, FAMOUS AND POWERFUL, NOTABLY TO PROVIDE GOOD EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIOUR OR TO EXCEED MINIMAL STANDARDS OF DECENCY."
(emphasis added) -- Wikipedia
Writer John Ralston Saul (particularly known for his commentaries on the nature of individualism, citizenship and the public good) lays the axe to Betsy's platinum sugar plum tree:
"Indeed you can usually tell when the concepts of democracy and citizenship are weakening. There is an increase in the role of charity and in the worship of volunteerism. These represent the élite citizen's imitation of noblesse oblige; that is, of pretending to be aristocrats or oligarchs, as opposed to being citizens."
Betsy DeVos views her efforts to champion social, religious, and educational apartheid via her work on her front group The National Federation for Children as a noble and a chartable endeavor. Not so!

"The term Noblesse Oblige also serves as a warning to those taking part that they are not to use their power and influence for selfish personal desires ...lest they be 'removed from the game,'" summarizes Wiki, in a summary which fits completely the parable included above, as told by Jesus.

"Queen" Elizabeth's "charity" always comes with a barbed hook, and a large dead weight. The long trail of incivility, chicanery, misinformation, political dirty tricks, and reprisals in her anti-community efforts belie her "charity" and expand her image as a serious one track ideologue with an anti-public angst and ambition.

The "new man" in "Queen" Elizabeth DeVos' life is N.J. Gov. Chris Christie!


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