What is Class Warfare?

"To be concerned about inequality is not to be engaged in class warfare." - Lawrence Summers, Former Secretary of the Treasury, In an interview with Charlie Rose, December 11, 2013.

Whenever the issues of taxes and social welfare programs rise to the consciousness of the public, the conversation inevitably devolves into a shouting match revolving about class warfare. Has it always been this way? Has the perceived sentiments that prevail always been the majority? Are those perceptions even real or merely the illusion of slick marketing?

If the concept of redistribution is such a pregnant term, should it be aborted like an unwanted fetus, lest it drain the life of those who would conceived it and even those whose lives are tangential, or allowed to grow that we might see its long-term potential?

Another phrase used in the aforementioned interview was that short-term growth raises long-term potential, which has been proven out consistently throughout our history. What's different now?

Feel free to share your thoughts.