The author mentioned, in an

interview at the back of one

of his books of short stories,

the practice of conflating wealth

with virtue.

.

“How does he know my West

Michigan town?” the reader asked,

“The writer grew up in the south

suburbs of Chicago and teaches

out East.”

 

The reader hadn’t made the “virtue

connection” in quite a while, but

“That really gives it all credibility

now, doesn’t it?” he asked rhetoric-

ally.

 

In this Bible belt along the

eastern shore of Lake Michigan,

the wealthy love to quote the

validating proverb and the masses

just say, “Must be God’s will.”

 

And so it goes: wealth = virtue

and wealth = power and power

corrupts and absolute power

therefore absolutely corrupts

whatever virtue may have been.

 

Too bad the wealthy have never

been very good at Aristotelian

logic and simple syllogisms.

They still think wealth =

virtue.

 

And so do the masses that

say, “The Bible says it, I

believe it, and that settles

it, don’t jah know,

too yet?”