Bill Maher had Bill O'Reilly on his show. O'Reilly said a couple of completely misleading things that really bother me.
The first problem was when Bill Maher was asking O'Reilly about Sean Hannity reading incorrect information about Obama's trip to India (something about the trip costing $200 million). O'Reilly's defense was that like him, Hannitty is an opinion guy and not a hard-news person. That was his whole defense. This defense doesn't stand up on any level. The station is called Fox News. This implies that whatever they're going to say on the television is fact, and not make believe. Even if Hannity doesn't report news stories, his opinions are supposed to be about facts, not blatantly incorrect statistics. O'Reilly, it is not OK for a news organization to report on fiction as if it were news. He's not reviewing a fictional book. He's commenting on current political events.
The second problem is this; O'Reilly was equating social justice with redistribution of wealth. He was talking about how Obama believes in social justice and that the Constitution does not say "transfer money". His problem is that raising taxes on the rich to pay for social programs to improve the lives of the lower class is wrong; America is about self reliance. This is infuriating because...
The Constitution also doesn't say anything about the type of economic system the U.S. is supposed to have. It doesn't say anything about Capitalism or the 'Free Market'. His argument is completely absurd.
The Constitution was written to benefit 'The People'. Of course, when it was written, it didn't include any rights to women or minorities or slaves or people that didn't own land. Although a revolutionary document at the time, it's outdated and changes have been made to it. Now the document is usually interpreted as offering equal rights for everyone. Nothing about it indicates a mandate to pull ourselves by our boot straps and go it alone. We're not isolated people. We live among and depend on other people all of the time. Where would these rich people be without teachers, maids, construction workers, waiters, cooks, and the thousands of other people that make their lives possible? The least they can do, is provide assistance to people that have made them rich, and sustain their lifestyle.
He makes the blatant claim "this is a Capitalistic society". This is not in the Constitution Bill. What we have now is a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. Maher's statistic about the top 1% owning 8% of the wealth in 1980 and now it's 23% indicates the real redistribution of wealth. If you are so against the redistribution of wealth, you should encourage programs to bring the percentage back to 1980 levels.
It's really a shame that so many people listen to Bill O'Reilly. He is very smooth and self assured when he talks. Even when bullshit if dribbling down his chin. I like Bill Maher a lot, but I wish he would call him out on this on the spot.
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