But that is the crux of the issue. Wealth is political power. The only way to mitigate wealth's influence on political institutions requires drastic, systemic changes. The wealthy can be as well meaning as they want, but no individual should control that many resources in a democratic society.
I don't think it's possible to prevent wealth from having political influence. Wealth is economic power by definition. The only way to significantly reduce the impact of wealth on democracy is to reduce the amount of wealth that wealthy people have.
Absolute. Wealth is power. Power is not having to worry about your safety and security. When you have so much money that you’re not answerable to anyone, you don’t worry about paying the bills or the mortgage, you can really speak your mind and spend your money in ways that others simply cannot. That is true power, imo.
> When you have so much money that you’re not answerable to anyone, you don’t worry about paying the bills or the mortgage, you can really speak your mind and spend your money in ways that others simply cannot
Indeed. And when you have so much money that you can offer that same freedom to others (or smaller but still significant improvements to their lives) then you inevitably gain influence over them (on average, if not always in specific cases).
You make a good point, allow me to comment on both sides. I would love to be rich, absolutely filthy rich. However every time I buy a lottery ticket, I start daydreaming of what it’s like to be rich, and how much good I can do in the world. I wonder if I feel that way is because I grew up in a very lower income Midwest family. Is it an appreciation of money, how it was gained, or something deeper that turns rich people so cold to those who are not? Not at all rich people are bad, I think there are a lot of great rich people who do a lot of great things, but the richest of them are not as altruistic as they would like us to believe. It’s the ulterior motives I guess that really bothers me when the rich give.
1. Your buying of lottery tickets is the strongest-possible signal suggesting that you will never be rich, sorry.
Source: the research of Thomas J. Stanley.
2. That climate change hasn't been adequately solved is proof-positive the rich aren't doing their part, or are possibly actively-accelerating environmental, ecological, and civilization extinction and collapse. It's morally-indistinguishable from them coming into every home, waving a gun around, and bragging about how their going to kill this child or the next one. What do you do when someone threatens to kill YOUR descendants? Let them, beg them not to, or shoot them first?
3. All philanthropy should be done in secret or it casts an image of attempting to buy favor.
Oh, no, you mistake me. I make enough money now that when I see the lottery get to half a billion dollars, I can afford without worry, a ticket that’s now an investment.
Red baiting what you don't understand. Communism has never been implemented anywhere, ever. Stalinism, Maoism, Marxist–Leninist Minh, but never communism. Cuba got close, but it still wasn't communism.
Irony: you talk about fairness without offering an alternative, system, or a path to get there. Do you think billionaires will just roll-over and hand over their money and power out of kindness? Should we just petition them and offer stern objections? What would that accomplish?
Look at how Islam Zakat laws, and disallows people from exploiting others. At the same time, it is not communistic nor capitalistic. It's a third pole basically.
