day no. 15,491: provided the rich were less rich

On her last day in parliament, Margaret Thatcher was questioned on the widening gap between the richest 10% and the poorest 10% during her Prime Ministership. Here was her response,

"All levels of income are better off than they were in 1979. But what the honorable member is saying is that he would rather the poor were poorer provided the rich were less rich. That way you will never create the wealth for better social services as we have. And what a policy. Yes. He would rather have the poor poorer provided the rich were less rich. That is the Liberal policy. Yes it came out. He didn’t intend it to but it did."

Envy does not care for the poor, it hates the rich. It masks itself in compassion, but is driven by bitterness. It expects the praise of charity while employing the means of malice. In reading Clement's letter to the Corinthians, I discovered another example of how this kind of play has been practiced for thousands of years.

1 Clement 38:2
Let not the strong man despise the weak, and let the weak pay regard to the strong. Let him that is rich minister to him that is poor. Let him that is poor praise God that he hath given unto him one by whom his want may be supplied. 

Clement acknowledges a temptation of the poor to withhold gratitude for their benefactors. He also points out that God provides for them through their provision. It is a grace of God to be surrounded by diligent, hard-working, producers. They alone make it possible to provide for the poor. Granted, there is also a temptation in being a maker to believe oneself self-made. This temptation is also addressed here by Clement, but as Thatcher points out, some would prefer that the poor be poorer so long as the consolation prize was that the rich became less rich. 

When that is the move, it is not the love of the poor which is in view, but the hatred of the rich. When you enjoy watching the stock market crash because you don't have any stock in it, you can rest assured it is envy that is driving your delight, not your love of the destitute.