Over here in Europe, the latest remarks by the Pope on unfettered capitalism have made waves.
The fault lines of the ensuing public discussion have been so predictable that a sustained yawn was all we could muster at the K-Landnews.
Then we heard a segment on National Public Radio about the elder Romney, the father of Mr. 47 Percent and reckoned, wait, something merits a few notes.
The elder Romney was a capitalist, and he had a heart. As head of HUD (housing and urban development), Mr. Romney would refuse money to states and districts that refused to desegregate.
Where would he be today, at a time when food stamps are cut, when a lot of people are still trying to recover from the loss of their homes?
We can only speculate, and we decline to do so.
It seems that the Pope has hit a nerve or two if we look at the comments to his remarks. Instead of looking to the future, those who feel offended by the pontiff have nothing better to do than drag out the old concepts of middle age feudalism and soviet style economy to show that we live in the best of sytems.
As in other emotionally charged debates, many of the fiercest defenders are clueless as to how hard life on or beneath a "living wage" really is.
It's okay to say "I am doing fine, a lot of people are doing fine, so I don't see any need to talk about improvements" but this sort of plain argument is not very acceptable in discussions about any big system, is it.
Instead of flogging a dead horse, why not turn it into delicious burgers or fertilizer? Make something useful out of it.
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