Rich people are all greedy, that’s the political mantra. It certainly would be useless to claim that there is no greed among the rich. But it would not likely be accepted by many, if not most, to point out that not all rich people are greedy.
Greed is an attitude toward wealth, not the mere possession of it. The most misquoted verse in the Bible is found in 1 Timothy 6:10, which is almost always rendered, “Money is the root of all evil.”
Paul actually says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Abraham, we are told, was very rich, and yet we are also assured that he was a righteous man, a man of faith. It is not what one has in the way of this world’s wealth which makes one good or evil, but what he does with what he has, little or much.
I think it is evident that there is a much more widespread evil among us than greed, and it can easily turn murderous. While greed has an uncontrolled desire for things, envy also desires things which others have, and, in addition, despises those who have what the envier does not.
Envy is the root of populist politics. It is planted, watered and cultivated by political demagogues who use it to further their grasp for power. How many politicians in Washington, D.C., of any party, do you know who are poor when they leave office? Envy begets entitlement, and entitlement begets power for the politicians who bestow it and nurture it (it’s called pork).
There is even a false political/financial theory called “zero-sum total.” It teaches that wealth is a finite and fixed quantity, and the only way a person can prosper beyond his neighbor is to take what belongs to the ones who have not prospered. Contrary to this notion, wealth can be produced by hard work and ingenuity.
This is a wealth which deprives no one else, and such prosperity should be encouraged and applauded, not confiscated.
Riley T. Jay
Seneca
Opinion
Voices: Greed! Nasty word!
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Our View: Santorum's Achilles' ear
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Our View: Are school loans next 'debt bomb'?
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Our View: A better way of limit terms
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Your View: Is it our fault?
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Your View: No way to run a school
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Your View: Prime suspects
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Our View: Worldwide concern
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Don Ray, columnist: Obama's pipeline excuse an election-year cop-out
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James Whitford, guest columnist: Broken people or broken system?
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