BE LIKE DOLLY (*revised)

(DU, I completely revised this post as an entreaty but kept the original below so you can see what others had responded to.)

Dear Billionaires:

I realize my plea may be naive, but it's not impossible. One of my consistent daydreams is that any billionaire who is still capable of using your empathy muscle would give enough money away so that you're no longer a billionaire. And keep doing it so you don't reach that threshold ever again.

Billionaires shouldn't exist. Period. Not in a world with so much deprivation and suffering. It's grotesque. I appeal to your humanity to consider the following.

Imagine if some of you (Governor Pritzker, Mark Cuban, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Oprah, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, and no doubt many others, because the rise of billionaires is now a macabre spectacle), funded programs to the extent that it takes you out of billionaire status.

(I mention some of you here because you have done good work, publicly, in spite of also taking part in billionaire spectacles. I don't know who among you truly care and can be reached through the wall of money you have gradually created by such an entreaty as this but I am forever hopeful.)

We are aware that some of you are already extremely philanthropic and do a lot of good. We applaud your generosity. Yet I submit that it isn't enough if you're still a billionaire, let alone a multi-billionaire.

Most of you are competitive, so make it a competition. See who can do the most good the quickest to get yourself removed from billionaire status. You know you can't spend all of your money anyway at this point and you certainly don't need it.

Think about your legacy. This movement could be the stuff of legends.

Dolly Parton is at least one example of someone giving so much philanthropically that she doesn't reach billionaire status.

I implore you to BE LIKE DOLLY. (And any others doing what she does.)

You could directly fund the school meal programs, universally available regardless of income so poorer kids aren't shamed, as one example. Get out of billionaire status. You can help the most vulnerable now and help us survive this fascist hump and set an example of how it should be going forward.

PLEASE NOTE that this would just be a one-off move to fund things directly during this horrific time when government is being destroyed and the most vulnerable are in grave danger, more than ever. We don't want you taking over functions of the state like Thiel and others want to do. Definitely not.

My hope is that your move to relinquish billionaire status would give more non-MAGA politicians the courage to take steps to remove the influence of money in politics and start to deal with the disgusting wealth and income inequality as a priority using things like a progressive tax code. You may have a negative knee-jerk reaction to that but stop and breathe. You will still have more money than you (and your children and grandchildren) will ever need.

Given the influence of money in our politics, I don't know believe more than a few elected officials would have the courage to do this, but We the People Who Care are asking that you start by setting this example and then politicians can actually run on this platform.

It's a winning message. This is not sustainable. You can take the first step.

What say you?



. . .

I realize it's extraordinarily naive, but one of my consistent daydreams is that any billionaires who still use their empathy muscle would give enough money away so that they're no longer billionaires. And keep doing it so they don't reach that threshold ever again. Billionaires shouldn't exist. Period.

Imagine if Governor Pritzker, Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, and no doubt more, because the rise of billionaires is now a grotesque spectacle, funded programs to the extent that it takes them out of billionaire status.

Dolly Parton is at least one example of someone giving so much philanthropically that she doesn't reach billionaire status.

Melinda Gates is doing wonderful work, but she's still a multi-billionaire, so she isn't doing enough, imo.

They could directly fund the school meal programs, universally available regardless of income so poorer kids aren't shamed. Get out of billionaire status. They can help the most vulnerable now and get us over this fascist hump and set an example of how it should be going forward.

This would give more Dems the courage to take steps to remove the influence of money in politics and start to deal with the disgusting wealth and income inequality as a priority.

Who are the Dems currently focused on this and talking about it? I know Bernie and AOC. Mamdani? Is Elizabeth Warren still focused on this? I know there are a lot of great Dems who preach about this, I've just lost track of who is doing it right now.

I don't know that elected officials would have the courage to encourage billionaires to do this, but maybe we the people could join forces to appeal to them to set an example.