THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

“Noblesse oblige”: with privilege comes responsibility, is an 1808 French phrase that mirrors Luke 12:48: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” It means that those with wealth and privilege, whose lives are largely removed from the daily struggle for life’s basics (food, clothing, and shelter) have a moral responsibility to help those who do struggle.

It does not mean wealth is evil or must be given away. It recognizes that no man is an island and that everyone ultimately depends upon others. Ignoring that truth undermines the foundations of a stable society. People can abuse their wealth and privilege for a time, crushing others through callousness and neglect, but eventually the consequences return. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinetteneglected the basic needs of their people and ultimately received a one-way trip to the guillotine.

The point is simple: being wealthy is not a bad thing. Who wouldn’t want to be? But when people who are part of the very social fabric that enabled that wealth are struggling, it is only a matter of time before that struggle spreads into everyone’s life if neglect and denial remain the order of the day.

My piece TAPA #176, “WHAT A DEAL,” is not a criticism of wealth or capitalism. It is a criticism of those who abuse their wealth and ignore the obligation that comes with it. The recognition that they did not reach their position alone. That the system sustaining their success depends on the well-being of others.

Trump cannot keep his hands out of his own and everyone else’s pockets. He shows no empathy and offers no meaningful plan for most Americans. His America resembles what I described in TAPA #176: those with the means to help instead demanding even more, effectively saying, “let them eat cake.”

Unfortunately, Trump is doing as president what he did in every business he ran. Real estate is easy when you start with a fortune: buy property and let the market rise. But real businesses require judgment, discipline, and financial skill qualities Trump never demonstrated. His airline, his casinos, multiple ventures, and even a charitable foundation all collapsed under the same pattern: overpromising and underperforming. How do you fail at running a foundation? By getting caught cheating.

Now the American people are the latest investors in the deal. Like the banks, contractors, and laborers who once trusted Trump, we are discovering the cost. They lost money. We risk losing far more, our money and, in the case of Iran, our blood.

The bankers and contractors lost their investment. But we still have the power to recover ours at the ballot box.

VOTE!!!

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!