Why do liberals hate success?

As Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton continue to pander to voters in their election campaigns, they advocate the imposition of an excess profits tax or something similar upon Big Oil and, especially, upon the bête noir of the day, Exxon-Mobil.

While I realize this is a slick strategy for keen practitioners of class and special interest politics, it prompted me to think: "What is it about liberals that cause them to innately reject or hate success?"

Think about how many of our nation's most successful business have found their way into the cross-hairs of the liberal establishment: Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Halliburton and the New York Stock Exchange are only a few of them.

And think too about how often these company names are used by liberals in a pejorative manner. Doing well and achieving is a bad thing?

Large and successful business organizations are critical to the success of the U.S. economy. W should celebrate, not indict, success.

I'm not in favor of unbridled free enterprise, but I really find it offensive when the liberal establishment, emboldened by their labor union supporters and the trial lawyers, takes it upon itself to make life unnecessarily difficult for and to otherwise hobble successful firms.

Lberals work day and night to figure out ways to demoralize or take resources from the nations' doers and producers, from its savers and risk-takers, and they also seek ways to penalize the innovators and creative class.

As I've seen it work, the liberal crowd instead sets its sights upon protecting those who rejected educational opportunities and who, therefore, are not equipped to do much; bolstering those who cannot function effectively in the work place but who nonetheless believe they have a right to stay there and be well-paid too; shielding those who want job protection but who do not want the merit of their work assessed; and sanctioning those who are more interested in extracting benefits from firms than they are in making contributions to them.

Failure to support and encourage success, when coupled with undue protection of mediocrity, diminishes the nation's productivity and strength.

This adversely affects us all.

Charles F. Falk

Schaumburg