Money is Not a Root of Anything

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and I." F. Scott Fitzgerald

If Mitt Romney is elected President, he will be the wealthiest President in our history. President Obama is a millionaire, but he can't hold a candle to Romney. These past few days as Romney has been enjoying his $8 million vacation home in New Hampshire, he's gotten some flak from even the Republican faithful. Incidentally, or perhaps coincidentally, Obama has cancelled his Martha's Vineyard vacation this summer.

We Americans are funny. On the one hand, the American dream is all about accumulating wealth. We want our kids to get good grades in school so they can get into a good college so they can get a good job so they can have a good life. Owning our own home used to be a privilege, and now it has become a right. That's part of what drove the credit crisis, this idea of buying a home before we could afford it. Then once we have the home, we need to fill it with large flat screen TV's, front loading clothes washers and dryers, and don't forget the two late model cars that need to be sitting in the garage. There is nothing wrong with money, earning it, saving it, spending it. Money is not good or evil. Money is merely currency, yet it seems that we all but worship it here in America.

So while we all are striving to become wealthy, those of us who aren't there yet have this odd, disdainful envy of the truly rich. I mean, really now. Shouldn't Romney be able to drive his grandkids around the lake in his boat? Shouldn't Obama be able to take some time off from what has to be a very stressful job to relax with his girls? And okay, I will admit that they usually take much nicer vacations than the average American family, but in the grand scheme of all the problems we have in our country, what does it matter?

They are both very rich men. They are different from me. I am good with that. I don't need them to understand me. I don't need their sympathy or their empathy. I don't need to hear that Mrs. Obama is shopping for dresses over at Ross Dress for Less, or that Mrs. Romney is visiting Supercuts every six weeks. That would do nothing for me. But come January, whoever is sitting in the White House needs to understand the very real problems our country faces, and needs to know how to work with the legislators to get us back on the right track. And if he can do that, then I say he is worth every penny of his $400,000 salary. And then some.

Susan