Should Bill Gates Go to Hell?

Enough is enough. The Constitution is supposed to be a living document, not a static parchment relic enshrined in the Archives of these United States of America. So, too, the Doctrine of Faith and its encyclopedic catechism of the Catholic Church is supposed to change. The movements of the latter are supposed to be more glacial than dynamic, but we are now in the position where the Church seems to be out in front of the United States government.

When Thomas Jefferson, who later sent Meriwether Lewis trundling across the Louisiana Territory all the way to the shining waters at the mouth of the Columbia River, wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and breathed life into this fledgling democracy, he believed that "Those who labor in the Earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people." What we are doing to the planet in the name of the Constitution--preventing people from hanging their clothes outside on the line, preventing individual states from implementing better programs for the mitigation of climate change--would make him roll over in his grave.

The seven deadly sins have grown to at least 14 after the Vatican updated its 1400-year-old list of the worst moral failures. What did they add? Excessive accumulation of wealth by the few and pollution, to name just a couple of the new offenses.

As e-waste becomes a major problem, Bill Gates and his ilk need to re-evaluate whether philanthropy, which some tout as the fourth branch of government, is really a good substitute for a communitarian government. Is it better to have Gates give billions to the African millions dying of AIDS or would it be better if our governments and churches, with the governments and churches of the world, took better care of our brethren.

I can hear some of you now: "Neither the government nor the churches would do as efficient and good a job." That makes my point exactly. Why have we lost so much faith in something that was supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people? If that is, in fact, the case, are we not smart enough to overcome these hurdles and develop fair, equitable programs that work?

I am not suggesting that there is a hot place in Hell for Bill Gates. That is Somebody else's decision. His generosity should be applauded and he and Melinda are making up for a government (and a Church) that has shrunk, through loss of faith, from its responsibilities. Nevertheless, we must consider these new imperatives from the Vatican. They must, at the very least, prompt the super-rich to ask themselves some critical questions.

Maybe then we can begin to dream again of a future worth living where we all share fairly and equitably in the American dream.