A well-meaning friend of mine sends me lots of inspirational e-mails daily. Some of them are keepers and others are throw-aways. This one was somewhere in between. What struck me was the sentence I used for a headline.
The mailing discusses ways poor people can get out of being poor, mainly by starting small part-time businesses on the side. That was the good part of the article.
The bad part was all about how rich people don't care about poor people and that they only care about "rich people stuff." This struck me as strange and insulting, considering all the rich people who give away lots of money to help the poor.
Just a few examples:
* Bill Gates, who, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provide free immunizations and supports research to find affordable, safe health solutions.
* Ted Turner, who, through the Turner Foundation, supports a variety of environmentalist goals including sustainable living.
* Oprah Winfrey, who, through her Oprah's Angels Network, the Oprah Winfrey Foundations, and other contributions like the Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls, contributes greatly to the needs of poor and underprivileged families and children.
* George Soros, who gave $50 million to help fight poverty in Africa.
* Warren Buffett, who is giving away more than $40 billion to five philanthropic organizations that help the poor and needy.
This is just a handful of individuals who give out of the wealth they personally created. This list is not exhaustive, neither does it include the countless religious and charitable groups, organizations, and foundations which constantly try to help the poor.
There's a great deal of contempt for the wealthy in this country and while some of it may seem deserved, most of it is not. The main point of the e-mail was an example of American Exceptionalism: that it is possible for even a poor person to become wealthy through hard work and ingenuity. A lot of liberals hate this fact of American life; it goes against their natural desire to confiscate as much wealth as possible to redistribute as they see fit. But it is still the surest way to become wealthy. I've yet to hear of a person on the dole who became rich from it.
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