"Accident of Birth" ARGH!

I was watching a Disney Channel movie called "Cowbells" with my son the other night and found myself having to explain capitalism to him as a result of the content of the movie. It blew my mind. I'll explain quickly, in case you're not a Disney Channel viewer. In the movie, two "spoiled little rich girls", whose father owned a dairy plant (which he had apparently started from scratch and built into a thriving business employing many of the local people), were forced to work there to learn some responsibility. The father went on a vacation, paid for by his friend who was a manager at the plant as a gift, and the manager/friend embezzled all the money from the company in the owner's absence. The daughters realized the peril this put the workers in and came to the rescue, using money intended to go for a "coming out party" and sale of a classic Mustang. During the course of the rescue (this is the part I had to explain to my son) one of the daughters went to the party, from which she had been excluded because she used her $25K to keep the dairy operating rather than to pay her share of the party expenses, and made a speech asking for volunteers to help produce some yogurt so the dairy could meet its obligations to its customers. In the course of the speech, she told the gathered affluent people that it was an "accident of birth" that they were there at the country club rather than working at the dairy and barely making ends meet. They had to understand the plight of the workers and come and help. Which they did, just in the nick of time.

It was the "accident of birth" part that got me. I have zero problems with having concern for the welfare of workers. In fact, one of the reasons I love capitalism is that entrepreneurs create jobs which help people better their standard of living. And, I appreciate entrepreneur/capitalists that treat their workers well, and appreciate their value to the company the entrepreneur has created. However, how a girl whose father had, by risk, the sweat of his own brow, and his own creativity, created a thriving business, could say there was anything "accidental" about their wealth is beyond me. Standing around at the party were the parents (who were also being asked to volunteer). I couldn't help but wonder how many of them had created businesses, or busted their ass getting a law or medical degree and then worked long hours in their practices to make good money, or had invented a product that people valued, and they had to stand there and be told that what they'd accomplished was an "accident of birth." Even the children, who hadn't done anything but enjoy the fruits of their parents' labors, should have bristled at those labors being referred to as an "accident."

The problem isn't that it was a theme in a Disney movie. It's that it seems to be a theme of the left, particularly the Hollywood left. I can sort of understand it of the Hollywood people. Even though many of them have actually worked their butts off to become good actors, or to write or become successful directors, it seems that, especially the actors, look at their success as being influenced by luck, or the blessing of a nice face or body (which could be true). So, perhaps they think that their success IS an accident of birth. And the Ted Kennedy-types, living their whole lives off of the wealth created by their ancestors, may believe themselves to be ultimately undeserving of the "accident of birth" which had them and not some soul in the body of a poor kid in Mississippi as the offspring of their parents. But these self-esteem issues absolutely should NOT be used to denegrate the efforts of the people who created the wealth (except possibly in Ted Kennedy's case, were Daddy Joe was a bootlegger so at least some of his money was ill-gotten).

I had to explain to my son that success was NOT an accident of birth. I told him that the girl didn't fully realize the work her father (and mother, who was apparently dead, but who had also apparently worked hard in the dairy when alive) had put in to create their wealth, or that the parents of the other kids had worked hard (and smart) to produce their wealth. There was no accident. There was the result of capitalism at work. And, one of the results was that the workers in the plants, the ones who did not create a business of their own, or invent a product people valued, or use their education to get jobs that paid high salaries, actually had jobs that allowed them to buy or rent homes, drive cars, put food on the table, have TVs, phones, and microwave ovens, etc. I wish someone would explain that to the people who wrote "Cowbells" and the "lefties" who believe that success is a matter of accident, not risk, work and creativity.