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PDF versionWhy I Hate the Rich
by Michael Sean Winters on Dec. 04, 2009
This morning’s Washington Post had a truly stunning story headlined “Some Obama donors are feeling left out: They lament not getting access to president, other traditional perks.” The article notes that President Obama has not rewarded big time contributors with government jobs. “The numbers pale in comparison to Clinton’s administration – during which coziness with donors was legendary – or to that of George W. Bush, who gave hundreds of jobs and other perks to wealthy supporters over the course of his presidency.” Bush, according to the non-partisan watchdog group Public Citizen, gave 40 percent of his largest campaign “bundlers” jobs in the administration.
A Hollywood consultant named Andy Spahn told the Post, “Under Clinton, we did spend time at the White House. We did spend time in Camp David. We did spend time with the president in Los Angeles. There has been real frustration in the donor community in general. There is so much less of that than I think ever occurred in the past.”
Well, no matter what you think of Obama’s policies, he deserves the highest of praise for avoiding time with and perks for such whiny rich folk. One would have hoped that they raised money for Obama’s campaign because they supported the policies he advocated. But, no. They want sleepovers in the Lincoln bedroom. Those sleepovers were such a great news story for the Clintons! Please. These people are only a smidge different from the horrible party-crashing Salahis: “What do you mean we weren’t invited? Who wouldn’t want us at their party?”
Vanitas vanitorum. If you wonder how the economic titans of Wall Street could be so short-sided that they completely disregarded the long-term health of the nation, and of their own companies, to pursue ridiculously large bonuses for themselves, well, you misunderstand why capitalism, for all of its benefits, invites grotesque behavior. So does private funding of campaigns. I understand why some have principled objections to the idea of public financing of campaigns, but if it rids our politics of whiny rich people, those principled objections better be huge.
excellent reflection,
excellent reflection, reminding me of the story of the Rich Young Man who wished to add Jesus among his possessions, as do these wealthy donors this POTUS.
I fear these donors will not be so generous for the next round, and money buys elections.
Jesus on the other hand would not be owned either, and told the young man directly to sell all that he had and give the money to the poor, and then come follow, fully, integrally, completely, with nothing held back in reserve.
One of the many tales of the early desert fathers (and mothers, celibate hermits or cenobites all) recounts of one who had hidden a bag of gold in his miserable hovel, discovered after his death, and the consequences thereof.
Reflecting on Michael's challenging piece here, and its engaging title, I find I hate the ways in which even in my bitter poverty I remain so rich, and whiny, unable still to turn it all over to Jesus, to give all that I have to the poor, to follow Jesus, but I hope and pray through this slow and stable process of Benedictine conversion . . .
The Rich Young Man went sadly away, as he had a lot of really cool things.
May God grant me the strength not to wander away as well, but to fulfill this vow of stability to the process of conversion, aided as always by these most edifying columns within this NCR community.
in reparation I grabbed what
in reparation I grabbed what money I could and caught the bus to Ciudad Juarez to assist the most bitter and abandoned I could find (aside from myself of course, and thus to myself). We found the most rewarding simply speaking and sharing company a moment in peace, and at the Mass in the CAthedral, in which we were told to embrace one another and repeat words of peace of peace and of commitment and of brotherhood (less gender specific in Spanish). We were also invited to join the priest in the acclamation rather then being told to keep quiet.
Also attended another massive peace march while there, which I would like to share with NCR, with engaging photos of habited nuns and surpliced seminarians and ten thousand more
Michael, I think you meant to
Michael, I think you meant to say "short-sighted." Unless you were critiquing their stumpy physique.
Perhaps it is because I only
Perhaps it is because I only discovered this site a week ago and haven't caught on yet, or maybe I am absolutely alone, but I cannot for the life of me figure what point most of the writers for this paper intend to make or what information they are trying to transmit. I have read a dozen articles at least across a range of topics. None of them makes sense, and I am not a young or uneducated man.
easy; in a word: Love thy
easy; in a word:
Love thy enemy!
I find the headline of this
I find the headline of this article "Why I Hate the Rich" to be inappropriate for a publication that prides itself in supposedly operating under Christian principles. How is "hating the rich" consistent with Jesus' command to love our neighbor?
whensoever we truly love our
whensoever we truly love our neighbor to the measure commanded specifically by JESUS, we are not rich at all materially.\
"and who is my neighbor?"
Re: this title. Michael,
Re: this title.
Michael, kindly spare us your thumb-sucking, nouveau riche wannabe rants. If you were on the flip-side of this socio-economic coin, you'd be editorially flaunting your newfound philanthropic check-writing sprees and titling your sour-grape articles: "Why the poor hate ME!" Boo hoo, indeed.
As a classroom teacher for over 20 years now, I can tell you from personal experience that children of the rich suffer as much as the children of the poor...just on different levels.
Be honest: you don't HATE the rich and famous, you ENVY the living daylights out of them just like Mr. and Mrs. SELAHI...and you know it...every time you lay you down to sleep on your foam rubber pillows swaddled in 98% polyester cases. But at least they had the guts to DO something about it, especially after they found out that Comcast/BRAVO is buying NBC.
SO you are in line with the
SO you are in line with the Calvinist heresy so prevalent among our US "Christians" which holds that material wealth is a sign of God's Favor?
Tell it to Saint Francis of Assisi!
Why not just join those Protestant sects and leave us Roman Catholics in our peace and poverty?
IOW, Michael Sean Winters
IOW, Michael Sean Winters hates anyone who has what he can't, eh?
The relevant Catholic Social Teaching is lose, not loose, thy envy.
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