Does Wealth Trump Everything?

If there’s ONE thing in America that seems to beat everything else, it’s wealth.

Wealth trumps …

intelligence

honesty

generosity

good works

justice

creativity

As near as I can tell, wealth is the winner in every respect.

Everything else takes second place. Without wealth, one’s accomplishments, integrity, and just plain old being a decent human being are ignored when a wealthy person steps into the room.

Wealthy people can get by with almost anything.

They can be rude, stubborn, wasteful, sadists, cheaters, even break the law without reaping the consequences of their actions. There are two sets of rules in every society. One set is for the rich and the other set is for the rest of us.

Wealthy men often have beautiful women on their arms.

The rich guy can be old, ugly, even abusive, but there’s a long line of young, gorgeous women waiting in the wings. Good men often still finish last in the dating game.

Yet, who can truly put all the blame on a lone, wealthy individual.

Sure they might be despicable, but they’re totally outnumbered by the rest of us. I’ve been told that there’s power in numbers, but nine times out of ten, the masses won’t unite in order to wield their collective powers. Instead, we hope that one day, we, too, will be wealthy. Maybe we’ll hit the jackpot or maybe we’ll marry a wealthy person.

Then, we will have reached the pinnacle of success by achieving the only thing that really matters in America.

I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve been chatting with a friend and someone else’s name comes up resulting in a sharp intake of breath and then a quick explanation in a hushed voice that goes like this, “He’s loaded, you know.”

Literally, I can hear a breathless quality to the statement.

Oooooooh, I think to myself. He’s wealthy. I guess that’s a significant qualifying asset. He’s got money. Lucky is the person who gets to be his friend, lover, wife, child, co worker, constituent, or acquaintance. Even when I was a kid, I could read the expression of awe and desire on adult’s faces when they spoke of a wealthy man. Suddenly, they revealed a simple fact. The masses are part of the problem but we don’t seem to realize it.

Our values are skewed by our culture, a culture where money trumps everything.

Why don’t we form our own communities and take care of one another. We could choose to not buy the products wealthy people produce. We could refuse to marry them and give them children, heirs. We could form a contract, share resources, start our own banks, create our own medical systems, open source our ideas and creative solutions. We’re not serfs living outside the castle wall with no land rights and zero opportunities.

Not yet anyway.

There’s so much we could do if we decided that wealth wasn’t the only thing in life that matters. If we decided instead that intelligence, equality, creative thinking and open sourcing ideas and resources were more valuable than wealth, then who knows what might be accomplished by the great unwashed masses. Because that’s all we are and ever have been to the wealthy, the great unwashed masses. They don’t see us.

It’s our job to see and value one another.

Maybe we’d end up with two separate cultures, but isn’t that what we already have. Don’t we already live in two different worlds but only one has any power?

If we believed that wealth shouldn’t be the goal, but rather a shared economy that benefitted everyone, what would our world look like?

I think we already have the answer to that question. We also already know that too much food, too much money, too much of anything isn’t healthy. I’m sure that most people understand this deep down inside. Since the beginning of time, cultures have always tried to imagine a better world. We agree for the most part on what a better world would look like, too.

The only problem is we choose to postpone this better world for the next life.

All the visions of an afterlife have always involved communities where everyone has what they need. Always. Heaven can only be heaven because it’s not this shit show we worship on earth.

That tells me something very important about humans.

We KNOW that what we’re doing is detrimental, harmful, selfish, and destructive, but we do it anyway. Over and over again, we try to change the world by doing the same thing that’s been done for centuries. Even while hoping and longing for a better world, there’s only one model we endorse. The rich always get richer and the poor always get poorer as we pine for a better world for our children. This pattern of behavior tells me something else as well.

The wealthy person is in power, because we put them in power.

Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. Her books can be found on Amazon.