The Virtue of the Wealthy

Do you know why rich people are rich? Why they have so much more than you? Well if you ask them, they'll tell you that they deserve it. Because they are smarter, or work harder, or contribute more to the community.

Or so goes the theory. But I ask you, where is all this superior character when you need to put out a fire? I find it ripsnortingly funny that wealthy communities can't seem to find enough volunteer public service workers (via Kos). They have to import them in from neighboring towns. Meanwhile they try to lure some in by offering - get this - free pool passes worth 500 dollars! I can't decide whether the lack of social responsibility, the utter cluelessness or the ridiculous cost of going to a pool is more outrageous.

This is the society we are fashioning - in which the privileged among us shift burdensome tasks to the peons while sipping martinis at their private pools. Ah, the American Dream.

P.S. Eugene Robinson thinks that white people should get used to the idea of being a minority. This is fine as well as it goes, but it buys into what I call the fallacy of ethnic unity. Whites are not an ethnicity - they are a blend of different European nations who have fashioned a common culture (Raise your hand if your ancestors are only from one country! Liar!). And Latinos will not remain a "pure" ethnic bloc (in fact they aren't even now) - they'll intermarry with "Anglos" and African-Americans. In a generation or two everyone will have a Latino grandparent, and no one will care.

And as for the US having an unofficial 2nd language, I don't think that is likely to happen in the long run either. Latinos who are born in this country are fluent in English (as Robinson points out), and in the following generation they barely speak Spanish at all. Which is exactly the same thing that happened with Italians, Germans, etc.