Yes, the rich can help AND...

Again, from well-respected reasoner Sam Harris, this is in answer to his post A New Year's Resolution For The Rich.  Again, it is the case for greater taxation of the rich AND, I think, it is something that needs a broader perspective around its "truth".  (My comment around leadership may be construed to be political, but I've only intended it to be observational and to be around valid content.  My position is firmly "in the middle" and integrative, not one sided, as you may gather from reading the whole reply.)

The reply:

Again, several good objectives. 

But progress is not made by putting too much emphasis on railing against a symptom.  Yes, pointing out the necessities of education, infrastructure, and green energy is very good.

But only if a clear vision of how to put it all together, specifying the goals that can be agreed on (no suffering, plenty of opportunity) and the strategies to use (with explanations and logic on how and why they will work) is provided by a leader will we be able to make progress.  It must be clear and whole, dropping the contentiousnes and narrowness of viewpoint - and it is up to each one of us, or as many of us as have the intelligence and education to do so, to join that rational middle position.

And, of course, all of us should contribute to that which makes this all work.  And those who have benefitted from freedom and free enterprise should contribute in some proportion to the benefit received.  It is not that some people have accelerated forward in wealth - that is not the correct issue for a long term solution - it is that we need to assure that none of us suffer, to the extent that we can provide against it.  But we have not progressed far enough in our wealth to do so.  The problem in the US is not yet solvable by the current wealth, but the amount needed for the world (those people are humans, too, not just US residents!) is massive - so we need to keep the golden goose going, somehow being able to have enough perspective to realize that scarcity is a problem but also that we need to divvy out the seeds for people to eat, investing the rest back into the "crop" (metaphorically).  People will always complain, basing their expectations on perfection (we should solve all problems, not realizing that there aren't enough resources accumulated to do that) and wallowing in idealistic notions that cannot lead to results without deeper thinking...

We need leadership that doesn't create divisions among us and them (the 1%) and how the problem is "the opposition".  Yes, leadership is aiming for good goals, but not doing it very effectively.  When there is no constructive conversation (and the other side is held to be at fault, garnering opposition to them), there is little hope.  Only when we citizens will no longer tolerate this will we choose a leader who will get us true results.  And it isn't about ideology on either side - it is about reaching the middle solution that can be accepted by all sides, with the leader being responsible to bringing both sides together (and never, ever, every complaining o blaming the other side).

Will you step up and take a stand for having such leadership (and to stop complaining about the "the other side")?