Chris,

I always enjoy your emails and your perspective, even if I find it sometimes divergent. (What else are friends for if not that?)

I would be curious to see a full list of lobbyists in Washington. I suspect there are just as many non-corporate, not-for-profit/special-interest groups lobbying our corrupt politicians as there are industrial/corporate lobbies at work.

My personal point of view on wealth and influence is much simpler and rooted in experience from years ago: My sister called for help and I had none to offer because I was broke (being at the time mildly anti-materialist... ha!). It made me finally realize the true purpose of wealth: It is the power to effect or protect our dearest interests. That is the moment I got serious about making, saving, and investing, to that wicked end of accumulating wealth.

To do that, you have to mix with the less savory elements of our society (I mean corporate executives in particular). But without them, I'd be living in the bad part of Grover City and still pounding stakes in the ground as an old man with a bad back. Capitalism, with all it's ills, is still the lesser of evils in this world of ours.

I have had the privledge of wandering the ruins of socialism in the Former Soviet Union, the oppression of Islam in Saudi, and the crippling culture of corruption in Africa. I have seen the choices, up close and personal as they say, and I choose the evils of American Capitalism to any of the other "Systems" I've seen along the way. Every step away from the principles of our founding fathers, is a step towards a fool's false dream.

If you would have The Successful redirect the effect, the power, of their wealth, then make your introductions, get involved with them. Argue your case, and overtime your influence will effect your dream. How else do you explain things like the Gates Foundation? Eventually, the fortunate grow conscience in the same way old men grow sentimental as time runs out. Witness the universities, libraries, public structures of Carnegie, et al. Wealth must concentrate to effect the excellent.

Individually, most of us sound like you and me: powerless to effect social change and so we hope some politician will do it for us. Ha!. The Exceptions, aka The Successful, you must lobby with logic and persuasion. It is all we have.

Class warfare will never succeed, but thoughtful and passionate eloquence can. It's the pen and the sword argument again. But the notion that the poor will just 'take it away' from the wealthy is laughable... and suddenly do the right thing, or do it so much better than all the experts that came before. Do they think the rich stupid and helpless? After either the French or the Russian revolutions, what happened? Just another form of tryanny to fill the void... and the lot of the poor changed not at all. Except of course for the new color of smoke the fresh governments blew up their collective asses...

The Poor are pawns being played in an old game amongst The Powerful.

wwfin

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government... "
Thomas Jefferson