One of the puzzles
of the current age in Ireland, and across the globe, is the immunity
of the wealthy in the face of their very obvious culpability in
matters of law, finance and governance.
Great devastations have been
delivered via the banking, legal, financial, accounting, property
development, civil service and political systems in Ireland;
devastations that have impoverished people, wreaked havoc on
landscapes and environments and forced thousands to emigrate. Yet no
one has been brought to book.
Why is this?
Because his purse
is basically unlimited.
You know any
really rich people?
Maybe a couple.
You ever know one
you could trust?
Fintan O'Toole,
columnist in The Irish Times, is near apoplectic on this question.
The legal system,
meanwhile, has proved itself to be almost entirely powerless in
bringing to justice those who commit crimes that are most corrosive
of social order: corruption, fraud, tax evasion, bribery, perjury,
market abuse, corporate recklessness.
Why is this?
The jury has a
story. In their head. About what happened in that room. We have to
drive that story out of their heads.
How?
By telling them a
better story.
One of the stories
the rich tell us is that we're all in this together. We are not. The
gap between rich and poor grows daily and becomes, many people argue,
increasingly irreversible. Another story the rich tell us is that the
rich/poor divide is equivalent to other divides in the world and thus
amenable to positive action to rectify it.
build a coalition
of white and black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old
This is a fallacy.
because nobody's
going to come out and admit they're awed by his money
Good efforts can be
made to rectify the discriminations cited by Barack Obama, all except
for the rich/poor one. At the end of the day re-distribution of
wealth, and the immunity that comes with it, is the only course of
action that will bear fruit.
I tried being
poor. I didn't like it. Did you like it …?
Race: David
Mamet; play; Samuel French; New York; 2008
A More Perfect
Union: speech; Barack Obama; 18.3.2008; excerpt in a theatre
programme; Hampstead Theatre; London; 2013
Facing up to
State's failure can allow us to begin again: Fintan O'Toole;
column; The Irish Times; 6.8.2013
www.facebook.com/DaveDugganWriter
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