Anthony Esolen of Touchstone magazine reminds us of the unnoticed gift of trickle-down decadence:
The rich can afford their vices, for a time anyway; the poor have no such margin for comfort. They are, in fact, endangered by the vices of the rich. I don’t simply mean that the rich man can extort his will from the poor, or wield the law as a club to keep the poor man in his place. He can do worse: He can infect the poor man with his vice, and that may be the quicker way to destroy him.
Read the rest of Esolen's editorial here.
Comments (3)
Indeed,
On this last day of Black History Month, it would serve us all well to remember a wealthy man worthy of emulation, George Washington Bush.
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5646
February 27, 2007 10:43 AM | Comment Permalink
The author of this article claims that it is the wealthy person's "duty" to serve and assist the underprivileged and also claims that the reason that people become wealthy is through sophistication. First of all, the author should consider renaming his article to possibly "Filthy Wealthy" instead of "Filthy Rich," whereas wealthy denoted an amount of and item (money) and rich just describe the importance of something. A more correct use for rich would be, " I live a rich life, because I have good relationships with my family and life-partner." But regardless of that little semantic argument, isn't it important to remember the foundation of America's economic system, and traditional American beliefs? Such as: "The harder you work the more your reward will be." I even believe that that is something that is set forth in the Bible: reaping and sowing... Maybe the author just forgot about these principals. We should note ever be inclined, in this country, to restrict someone's freedom of choice. If a wealthy person decides to spend the money all on himself, then so be it. Who cares? The author claims God cares, but the person who chooses to spend all of the money on himself will reap the alleged moral ramification of doing so. Let's remember that God also granted freedom of choice to do what you want when you want. Just like today your decisions have ramifications, let's be realistic - telling people how to spend their hard earned money is just a stupid idea. We live in a free economy, there are winners and losers, that is not going to change no matter what we do.
- Andrew Walters
February 28, 2007 9:54 AM | Comment Permalink
Andrew,
I agree with you up to a point, but I am reminded of Adam's Smith observation that the rich should not pay their fair share but rather more than their fair share.
February 28, 2007 10:47 AM | Comment Permalink