Ro Khanna Tells Democrats to Embrace Class Warfare As He Rallies

California Rep. Ro Khanna is openly positioning himself for a possible presidential run, and while he may be a long shot in 2028, or even 2032, he could become increasingly more relevant if the country continues drifting toward the kind of socialist economic populism he represents.

At a weekend rally backing California’s proposed one-time five percent tax on billionaires, Khanna said the Democrat Party faces a choice: stand with the “donor class” or with the working class. But that is a false choice.

The question is not whether government should privilege billionaires or the working class. In a free country, it should not be in the business of privileging either. The real choice is between freedom and its absence: between an economy in which people are free to work and keep the fruits of their labor, and one in which politicians get to decide how much success is too much and which class deserves to pay for everyone else.

Will the Democratic Party stand with the donor class, or with the working class? Are we going to stand with 250 billionaires in California, or with poor kids who need healthcare? 150,000 healthcare providers could lose their jobs. People call them a “special interest”- I call them nurses, doctors, technicians, people who work at rural hospitals. We need to vote #YesOnProp40 and tax these billionaires to pay for healthcare.

"And the whole world, the whole nation is watching. And you know what they're asking us? They're asking us, will the Democratic Party stand with the donor class or are they going to stand with the working class?" Rep. Khanna asked. "We're here today to say we're going to stand with the working class. They're asking, are we going to stand with 250 billionaires in California? Or are we going to stand with poor kids to get health care? We're here to say we're going to stand for poor kids to get health care over those billionaires. We're here to stand for 3.5 million Californians who would lose their health care. This is not a game. And 150,000 health care providers who would lose their jobs."

"They call them a special interest. I call them nurses, doctors, health care providers, technicians, people who work in rural hospitals," he added.

The working class and the donor class do not need to be diametrically opposed. That belief pervades modern politics, and it is exactly the kind of division socialists thrive on. Both groups are useful to the other; their relationship is symbiotic, not parasitic. The wealthy donor class provides opportunity for the working class by investing in industry, building hospitals and schools, and creating businesses. That investment creates jobs and gives workers the chance to climb the economic ladder, provide for their families, and build wealth and opportunity for the next generation.

When the relationship no longer feels that way, it is often because a politician like Rep. Khanna has chosen to restrict one group’s freedom while pretending he has expanded opportunity for the other. The reality never quite follows. It does little more than breed class resentment, and, like most things of that sort, it ultimately serves politicians like Khanna.

Who gets the blame? Not the politician. Not the government. It falls instead on one economic class or another, or, worse, on the free-market system itself.