How Much Is Too Much?

Can we please get off the subject of "the rich"? Can we stop talking about them as though they are the root of all of the world's evils? I tell you what, if you can answer two questions adequately, I'll take you seriously on the subject:

1. If you (and only you) spoke to an angel who gave you the winning Powerball numbers for tomorrow's jackpot drawing (currently sitting at $74 million, $36.8 million cash value) and thus become one of "the rich," would you turn the opportunity away?

2. How much is too much? In other words, when do you go from "normal and good" to "greedy rich bastard"?

I'll bet my next 10 years' pay that you can't answer these questions in a way that we can all agree on. So let's start being a little more realistic about the whole thing. There are always "rich people". Those people get their money various ways, and they are most definitely not all evil. They are people of all races, ethnicities, creeds, and sexual persuasions. Many of them worked very hard to maximize a particular skill or talent, to better themselves and find that financial success...isn't that what the American Dream is all about? True, there are those who are not nice folks, who many may believe "don't deserve" what they have, or who are frivolous or careless with it. But that's as true of the poor man who squanders his talent and opportunities as the rich man who squanders his (or his parents' or grandparents') money.

Further, democracies are supposed to enforce the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the minorities. So-called "rich people" are a minority, by anyone's standard, yet these days they're getting worse treatment by the majority than blacks got in this country 200 years ago. We're often told, "who are YOU to judge the rightness of 's actions/judgments/values?" I guess as long as we're all ready to hate the same minority, that makes it OK, right? Anyway, I know someone else who said, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," which is basically what we're all talking about here; his ideas have yet to work successfully in human society (even though there are people who insist we still try it).

So shut up about it. If you focus a little more on yourself and what YOU can do, and a little less on making life "fair" or soaking the rich (or whoever you happen to be mad at today), we can actually make America succeed again. And you might actually become one of those evil, greedy rich bastards. Envy is one of the Seven Deadly Sins for a reason, you know...it even garners mention as the last of the Ten Commandments. Right now there are about 316 people in Washington, DC (plus one) who are definitely going to Hell at this rate.

For the record, my answers to the two questions I pose above are:

1. No freaking way...are you kidding?
2. I don't know...can we cap their earnings without capping their freedom?