I find it alarming that so many middle and upper class Americans 

profess confusion about why so many people are engaged in the Occupy 

Wall Street Movement. These prosperous Americans have become 

complacent. They are not bad people. But they are people who have lost 

their way.

 

We have lost our moral compass. Long ago there was a concept known as 

?Noblese Oblige?. The dictionary defines this as ?Benevolent, 

honorable behavior considered to be the responsibility of persons of 

high birth or rank.? You see, in the old days it was a common precept 

that those of us who has attained great success in life (whether by 

birth or merit) had the responsibility to protect the interests of all 

the less fortunate people around them. Thus historically, kings 

protected their people, rich landowners cared for their peasants, and 

tribal chiefs subordinated their interest to those under their care. 

When this historical obligation of the elite was forgotten, chaos 

resulted. An example is the French Revolution. Had the elite only 

sacrificed a little and fed the starving masses, they would have 

escaped the guillotine. But they did not, and in a certain sense the 

later outcome was inevitable.

 

Now history repeats itself. Our elite have forgotten history. They 

have become gluttonous monsters whose greed is insatiable. The barons 

of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve Bank have made hundreds of 

millions of dollars in profit. They and their children?s children 

could not spend all that money. Yet they see no reason to reform. The 

hundreds of thousands of families who have lost their homes, their 

jobs and their hope are not their problem.

 

I own stock in the Dow Chemical Company. The president of Dow recently 

made some bad decisions that devastated their company profit. He then 

laid off 1500 employees. Within a month he then paid himself an eighty 

million dollar bonus. His conduct is so typical of the excess of 

American management that there is no widespread protest at this 

abominable behavior. ?Just business as usual?, I am told. Poor 

?noblese oblige? is no longer remembered by our wealthy and powerful.

 

But our politicians are too compromised to now protect us. The large 

political donations from the banks and financial institutions that are 

necessary for the politicians to stay in office have rendered them 

incapable of disciplining the banking and finance industry.

 

So the people, with no other outlet for their frustration, have taken 

to the streets. Interesting how history is repeating itself.

 

Some day we will remember that concepts of honesty, character and 

integrity are what made this country the greatest country in the world.

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