By Douglas V. Gibbs
The brazen defense of shoplifting by privileged elites reveals a deeper rot in our national character. When a New Yorker writer living in a $2.5 million Brooklyn brownstone can boast on a New York Times podcast about stealing from Whole Foods without remorse, we’re witnessing not just isolated hypocrisy but a fundamental rejection of the moral foundations that once sustained American liberty.
This phenomenon, dubbed “microlooting,” is presented as righteous resistance against corporate excess. Jia Tolentino and her fellow leftists argue that stealing from big corporations is justified because “the rich don’t play by the rules, so why should I?” Yet as real working-class New Yorkers like Andrea Jones from public housing correctly observed, “She is hurting me, she is not helping me.” The costs of such theft inevitably fall on consumers through higher prices, while the wealthy perpetrators face no consequences.
What we’re witnessing is the logical endpoint of decades of moral subversion – a systematic infiltration of Marxist ideology into our most cherished institutions. This isn’t random lawlessness but the predictable result of an educational system that has taught generations that all ethics are socially constructed, that property rights are instruments of oppression, and that individual conscience supersedes objective moral truth.
America’s Founding Fathers understood that liberty without virtue becomes license. John Adams wrote that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Similarly, Alexis de Tocqueville observed in the 1830s that religion in America functioned as “the first of their political institutions” – not through government control, but by providing the moral framework necessary for self-governance. He warned that America would endure only so long as it remained “good and religious,” and that tyranny would emerge when the United States moved away from its moral foundation.
We are now living in de Tocqueville’s prophesied moment. The microlooting phenomenon represents a fundamental rejection of the Christian ethic that stealing is inherently wrong regardless of the victim’s wealth. It embodies the moral relativism that declares right and wrong to be determined by one’s perceived victimhood status rather than objective moral principles. This is precisely how communism historically gains cultural footholds, by eroding respect for private property and rule of law through incremental normalization.
The Marxist infiltration has been methodical and brilliant in its execution. By capturing academia first, they’ve produced generations of teachers, journalists, and even clergy who have been inoculated against traditional values. The Frankfurt School’s strategy of “the long march through the institutions” has been devastatingly effective. They understood that to destroy a civilization, you must first detach it from its transcendent moral framework.
When Hasan Piker argues that corporations “factor in theft” and therefore stealing is acceptable, he’s promoting moral anarchy where individual conscience replaces established law. When leftists frame theft as virtuous resistance rather than criminal behavior, they’re engaging in the cultural subversion that has been eroding our country from within.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Wealthy elites like Tolentino advocate for stealing from corporations while living in luxury that the very system they condemn has provided them. As one Reddit commenter aptly noted, “You’re not hurting the corporations. The consequences are felt by the workers who get grilled about their location’s shrinkage numbers and the rest of us that now have to push a button and wait for someone to come unlock the toothpaste cabinet.”
This spiritual battle disguised as political turmoil demands more than legislative solutions. We cannot regulate our way back to moral clarity. The path forward requires something like a great awakening; a restoration of the understanding that rights come from God rather than government, that there is objective moral truth, and that individuals are called to personal virtue rather than revolutionary action against perceived oppression.
The question becomes: how do we foster such an awakening when so many of our institutions have been compromised? The answer begins with recognizing that political solutions alone are insufficient. How can we get our political house in order if we don’t get our religious house in order?
This awakening must begin in our homes and communities, where parents and grandparents pass on not just political values but moral and spiritual truths to the next generation. It requires supporting churches and religious institutions that remain faithful to biblical principles rather than capitulating to cultural pressures. It demands educational alternatives that teach both critical thinking and moral absolutes.
We must also courageously speak the truth, calling out hypocrisy wherever we find it, whether in corporate boardrooms, editorial offices, or academic departments. We must support businesses that uphold traditional values and boycott those that actively undermine them.
Most importantly, we must model the virtues we wish to see restored: personal integrity, respect for property rights, compassion for the genuinely disadvantaged, and an unwavering commitment to truth. The microlooting phenomenon thrives in an environment of moral relativism; it withers when confronted by individuals who live according to principle rather than convenience.
The battle for America’s soul is not lost, but it is urgent. Each small act of moral courage contributes to the larger awakening our country so desperately needs. The Founding Fathers established this republic on a Christian foundation with the expectation that we would remain a moral and religious people. It is time to reclaim that heritage, not through coercion or government mandate, but through the voluntary restoration of individual character and collective virtue through our culture.
The choice before us is clear: we can continue down the path of moral relativism that leads to tyranny, or we can rediscover the principles that made America exceptional. The future of liberty depends not on who controls Congress or the White House, but on whether enough Americans choose to order their lives according to transcendent moral truth rather than the shifting sands of cultural fashion.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
