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Amazing! Some people who’ve long enjoyed a lifestyle of old-money elegance, are suddenly trying to downscale their lives and show a bit more of the common touch.
They’re not corporate chieftains, but they do run multimillion-dollar operations and consider themselves role models for the masses. They are the Catholic Bishops of the United States – and it’s that role model thing that has them a bit flummoxed. Many are living in grand residences, with extensive staffs and personal servants, socializing with the and political elites, moralizing from elevated pulpits, and… well, generally living in a lofty manner. This has left many of them aloof from the common folk, the very flock they supposedly tend.
For years, such privileges for the Bishops were accepted as normal, even deserved. Then, last year, Francis happened.
Like a hurricane, a new pontiff – and a new ethic – hit the Catholic hierarchy. Pope Francis lives a sparten life and goes openly and gladly among the masses, while stressing simplicity and personal humility as the proper demeanor for the clergy. The Church’s moral emphasis, Francis says by word and deed, must be on service to the poor and disadvantaged, and the existence of economic inequality must be a top priority, addressed as a social evil.
So we now have the phenomenon of Bishops scrambling to cut extravagances, allocating more resources to the down and out, focusing on economic justice, becoming more available to ordinary parishioners, and... well appearing more like Francis. Actually, though, they’re not aligning their lifestyles and work with the Pope – but with the life and teaching of Jesus, the founder of their Church.
Wow, that’s a most impressive conversion! So here’s an idea: If Francis can have this affect on the elites of the Church, what say we turn him loose on the hubris of Wall Street and the extravagances of the corporate elites?
“U.S. Bishops Seek To Match Vatican In Shifting Tone,” The New York Times, June 13, 2014.

Koch brothers stunned to find some non-rich people in their lobby

The gabillionaire Koch brothers feel entitled to occupy the people’s elections, barging in with sacks full of corporate cash. So, how would the brothers feel if the people barged into their political affairs?
To find out, a few citizens recently paid a visit to “Koch Companies Public Sector,” the grandiose name the brothers give to their Washington, DC, lobbying headquarters. From there, a covey of high-dollar Koch-headed sapsucker lobbyists flits all around town trying to get lawmakers to take away our Social Security, Medicare, minimum wage, etc. – while also making sure that the two, “free-enterprise” proselytizers keep getting their billion-dollar-a-year package of government subsidies.
So, some “commoners” came calling on the Kochs. Okay, it was more than some – more like 600. They’re affiliated with National People’s Action, a scrappy, grassroots network of farmers, workers, clergy, retirees, environmentalists, students, and just plain folks.
The visitors occupied the grand lobby of the lobbyists’ building – forming a picture-perfect contrast between the Powers That Be and the Powers That OUGHT To Be. First, a couple of ministers in the NPA group called on the Kochs to “repent” their narcissistic political push to pervert our democracy into their privatized plutocracy. Then, several of the out-of-towners gave personal testimony about the real-life impacts that the Kochs’ extremist ideological agenda is having. Patricia Fuller, for example, told of struggling to make it on Michigan’s $7.40-an-hour minimum wage, then asked why the billionaires would spend millions to try to knock it lower – or, as Charles Koch advocates, eliminating America’s wage floor entirely.
Of course, the visitors were tossed out, but their point was made: It’s time to toss these corporate oligarchs out of the people’s business.
www.npa-us.org