October 13, 2019
In Praise of the Decently Rich
Timothy Birdnow
My cousin Ellen sent me this. I think it is a very valuable essay on the benefits to society of decent wealthy people.
Whatever Happened to Noblesse Oblige?
From the article:
It's a fine article - do read the whole thing.
My cousin Ellen sent me this. I think it is a very valuable essay on the benefits to society of decent wealthy people.
Whatever Happened to Noblesse Oblige?
From the article:
Such feudalism with the "rich man in his castle and the poor man at his
gate†is alien to our egalitarian age, but it is not inherently unjust.
It recognizes the reality of economic disparity, understanding that you
will not only "have the poor with you always†but you will also have
the rich with you always. Recognizing that reality, its success or
failure relies on personal virtue; but this is a universal principle:
any economic and social system is only as good as the people within it.
Progressive egalitarians may sneer at the principle of noblesse oblige, but the way Hampy lived and ministered in an English village in the middle of the last century exhibited the basic principles of a just and workable economic and social system. The principle of solidarity existed because the members of the village community lived, worked, prayed and played together. The village was a network of extended families who fought and forgave one another and who lived out the drama of quotidian life together.
Hampy was one of them, as were the members of the other wealthy families who lived in the two country mansions outside the village. These aristocrats not only provided the employment, they funded the local old folks home, ran the village school, nurtured the social life of the village, motivated the charitable works of the church and made sure no one was excluded. As they lived together they not only lived out the principle of solidarity, but also the principle of subsidiarity — the idea that problems should be solved and initiatives taken at the lowest, most local level possible.
Progressive egalitarians may sneer at the principle of noblesse oblige, but the way Hampy lived and ministered in an English village in the middle of the last century exhibited the basic principles of a just and workable economic and social system. The principle of solidarity existed because the members of the village community lived, worked, prayed and played together. The village was a network of extended families who fought and forgave one another and who lived out the drama of quotidian life together.
Hampy was one of them, as were the members of the other wealthy families who lived in the two country mansions outside the village. These aristocrats not only provided the employment, they funded the local old folks home, ran the village school, nurtured the social life of the village, motivated the charitable works of the church and made sure no one was excluded. As they lived together they not only lived out the principle of solidarity, but also the principle of subsidiarity — the idea that problems should be solved and initiatives taken at the lowest, most local level possible.
It's a fine article - do read the whole thing.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
04:54 PM
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Yes, it is an excellent article. People of my generation, and yours, will pretty much understand it. Gen-Xers do not. To them, Downton Abbey is a quaint and ancient period piece but doesn't relate to them or their lives in any way.
I can understand Hampy because my great uncle was pretty much like him. Owner of a lumber business in my home town, he was the richest man in town (and I was privileged to know and be friends with the second-richest man too) and although he didn't spread his money around the family, when there was a need he took care of it.
Dare I say that there is more than a bit of this approach in Donald J. Trump? He didn't have to spend his Golden Years in a thankless job such as "Republican President" in an age when the Left was doing everything possible to take over the country. And he's working very hard to fulfill every one of his campaign promises. Why? Because he CAN. He saw a need that he believed nobody else could, or at least would, fill, and he set out to fill it. With the day-by-day savaging he immediately started receiving, he could easily have told himself "You're fired!" and resigned. But he did not. Noblesse Oblige indeed, and God bless him for it, every day.
I can understand Hampy because my great uncle was pretty much like him. Owner of a lumber business in my home town, he was the richest man in town (and I was privileged to know and be friends with the second-richest man too) and although he didn't spread his money around the family, when there was a need he took care of it.
Dare I say that there is more than a bit of this approach in Donald J. Trump? He didn't have to spend his Golden Years in a thankless job such as "Republican President" in an age when the Left was doing everything possible to take over the country. And he's working very hard to fulfill every one of his campaign promises. Why? Because he CAN. He saw a need that he believed nobody else could, or at least would, fill, and he set out to fill it. With the day-by-day savaging he immediately started receiving, he could easily have told himself "You're fired!" and resigned. But he did not. Noblesse Oblige indeed, and God bless him for it, every day.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at October 14, 2019 03:44 PM (ViulP)
2
Yeah; this is completely alien to younger people. But it was the way of things back in the old days.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at October 14, 2019 04:39 PM (dXrrT)
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