It is a common fallacy to make judgements about others based purely on the outward success that they portray. Those who mistakenly believe that the amount of money one has is a sign of intelligence are seeing only what they wish to see. Wealth does not automatically infer a high IQ. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has been in the news in recent days after announcing his entrance into the presidential race. He may be a billionaire, but some of the words coming out of his mouth testify to his ignorance. His comment on farming that, “It’s a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn”, is typical of egocentric know-it-alls. He has probably never grown anything in his life. I am a master gardener practicing sustainable, no-till methods and implementing permaculture wisdom into every aspect of my life. Does this man think that just because he has a lot of money he is an expert on everything?
Donald Trump is another example of a man who has far more money than common sense. Those who actually know what they are talking about have no need to yell or use profanities or slander others. People who are experts in their field can speak in a normal conversational tone, knowing that the words themselves will convey meaning. They have no need to raise their voices or speak so fast that their words are tripping over one another. A person, who speaks from his heart, rather than from this head, is in no hurry and has no ulterior agenda. Is the 2020 race going to turn into an even bigger mud-slinging contest than the 2016 race was? Bloomberg and many of the remaining Democratic candidates continue to make this about “beating Donald Trump”; but this is so far from what this election needs to be about. It should not be about “beating” anyone, but about who is willing to work the hardest to reverse climate change.
Tom Steyer’s name rarely comes up in the news. He entered the race later than some, and he has not received the publicity that the better known candidates have received. He is a self-made billionaire, but unlike the other billionaires, he and his wife are committed to giving away most of their fortune. When asked what would be the first big challenge he would undertake, if he were elected president, his answer was without hesitation, climate change. He has realized, unlike Trump and Bloomberg and many others, that regardless how much wealth or power one is able to accumulate in his lifetime, it cannot help him if our planet is destroyed.
