I admit I was thrown off track when I first read the headline to William Gloege’s letter: “Capitalism needs your help!” (April 5). However, his perfectly written letter straightened that out for me. He pointed out the only form of logic with a snowball’s chance of getting through the entrenched belief among adherents to unfettered capitalism, that unless they are given a clear road to unlimited profiteering, they will never allow anything that diminishes its control of America. Not even to admitting the well-established truth of man-made destruction of planet Earth.
I don’t know whether Mr. Gloege was writing with tongue firmly in cheek. He is too good a writer to let on exactly what underlay his cleverly worded rationale. He might even be the grand poohbah of capitalism who has seen the light. I can’t tell for sure. But, without mentioning all the buzzwords like climate change and pollution, he found the one and only reason why capitalism would ever get behind curtailing industries that produce so much profit. None of the arguments put forth by people of conscience, worried about the harm done to Earth and its living creatures—past, present, and future—has accomplished what this single argument has the possibility of doing.
Thank you, Mr. Gloege!
PS: I may not agree with Mr. Gloege’s choice solution to the energy problem, but there are plenty of interesting possibilities being researched, in addition to all the clean-air resources we already know about. Given funding, the way is open.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2018.