Wendell Berry on wealth.

• Author: Raby, John
• Position: Letter to the editor

Wendell Berry has been a major influence on my own thinking, and I have treasured his ideas over the years. I agree with the general direction of his "Less Energy, More Life" essay (September issue), especially the point that responsibility starts with ourselves, but I think he has been misled by what our country currently defines as wealth.

As I see it, what we have in our country now isn't wealth, but conspicuous waste and flamboyant greed, the very things that Thorstein Veblen warned us about over a century ago, with the result being the plunder that Berry correctly condemns.

Given the obscenely maldistributed wealth that keeps driving our people into poverty in ever-increasing numbers, the last thing that we need to do is prepare for even deeper poverty. The broad mass of our people has already been impoverished enough.

In every genuine material and moral sense, the United States is already destitute. We are flooded with goods and services that no one really needs, while people lack decent housing, food, health care, and education.

What we need instead is conspicuous thrift, simplicity of life, nonpolluting energy, distributive justice...