It sure didn’t take long for the climate deniers and fossil fuel barons to jump all over Pope Francis’ letter on climate and the earth with Bush and Santorum leading the pathetic charge. For whose benefit are these political and industry leaders railing against common sense? Why the wealthy, of course – those who can continue to live in their protected communities and have the resources to ensure that climate degradation stays away from their front doors – for now anyway.

The pope is not a scientist, nor does he claim or pretend to be. But he is an intelligent individual whose concerns lie with all of humanity. He is a Jesuit priest who lives the Jesuit charism of a “preferential option for the poor” – those among us who, as he so rightly indicates, lack the power to influence policy and protect the livelihoods of their families and communities, the communities most likely to bear the brunt of continuing environmental degradation.

The pope sets an important model for all of us to look at all sides of an issue such as climate change, to evaluate the science carefully, and speak “truth to power.” He models for us the importance of evaluating the sources of statements on all kinds of social issues. Oil is big money. Too many US congressional reps are being supported heavily by big oil money and end up supporting these interests rather than the interests of the people they are supposed to be serving. He models for us the courage to speak out and take the punches perpetrated by the right-wing backlash and other self-interested individuals.

Imagine a world in which politicians took it upon themselves to learn of the struggles of all of their constituents and listened with equal reverence and openness to independent analyses and voices of citizens across the economic strata. Who, as Francis asks , will be the real leaders who will take the necessary steps to show respect for the earth and all her inhabitants and take the necessary action for a promising future that incorporates alternative technologies to fuel economic growth while also supporting the greening of our planet, not its browning and rotting? Please stand up!

I am glad to see that some municipalities and corporations are getting the message that raising the minimum wage is good for America and for American business. Far too many people in our country are working hard to make ends meet and provide for their family members’ basic needs by taking on two or more jobs. Failure to provide a fair wage for work stems from what the Buddhists refer to as the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion. The greed shows itself in the lobbying by big business to provide tax relief for the very wealthy individuals and corporations. More government handouts are given to corporations (agribusiness and big oil as two examples) than to the struggling poor and tax legislation continues to provide hefty breaks to the very wealthy (consider the raising of the ceiling on estate tax relief).  The supreme court also seems to be pandering to the rich white elite.

In his insightful column on the Pathology of the Rich White Family, Chris Hedges provides clear evidence of the greed and delusion that seems to have gotten into the DNA of some of the very rich. Their delusion shows in the way they point fingers at the urban poor who at times (less frequent than one would expect) burst with rage at how they are marginalized and mistreated by white society, represented in some recent incidents by the police. These rich whites see themselves as better than those with less education and less access to decent work and support services. They can steal from US citizens by deceiving others into purchasing worthless investments and taking bailout funds so they can continue to give themselves unreal bonuses and never suffer the consequences of jail. In a probably not-so-surprising finding, Hedges reports on a finding by social scientists at the University of California that showed that the economically poor demonstrate higher levels of empathy than do the rich.

Did you see John Stewart’s piece on a comparison of the wrong doing by some educators in Atlanta who were given jail time for dishonest practices of misrepresenting students’ scores on standardized testing with the wrong doing of Wall Street capitalists? Punishment does not seem to get meted out equitably.

So what then? We should look at ourselves first to examine our own poisons of greed, hate, and delusion and to look clearly at our social ills and commit to providing some assistance to reverse course on the treatment of the marginalized. We need to wake up to the realities before us before it’s too late.

What do you think?