There once was a beautiful boy named Richie.
He was born into great wealth. His parents were rich, and their ancestors before them were rich, but their wealth was not acquired overnight.
The ancestors of young Richie had toiled and saved for generations, seeking to ensure that their descendants would have enough wealth to maintain their health and prosperity as well as pass on their legacy to their future progeny.
Because of the careful planning and purpose of his rich ancestor, Richie stood to inherit millions of dollars, plus lands and servants, and any other amenities which a wealthy child can expect.
Richie’s parents were proud of their parents, their ancestor’s efforts. Oftentimes, they would regale their son with the challenges and triumphs of his long family line. Richie’s parents had great dreams for him. He would attend the most elite universities. He would buy a grand home and hold one of the most privileged and well-endowed occupations which his community could offer.
They were convinced that their son would continue the blessings which they had received as members of the Greatest Generation of their nation.
Yet at the same time, these parents were driven by self ambition, desiring above all to ensure their present comfort and to continue their complacency for as long as they could. Their parents before them had acquired so much wealth, so much power, so much influence, that Richie’s parents were convinced that they could have a little more fun, splurge, gratify themselves at length, yet without harming Richie’s future.
They drew from their own wealth at great length to fund their lavish, outrageous, selfish, hedonistic lives. They ran through their yearly income, they drew on their savings, they borrowed from every creditor, from every agency they could find.
Still, their desire for safety and security never found solace.
One day, they considered the vast inheritance of their young boy.
“Why don’t we start spending some of the wealth which we have set aside for his future?” they charged each other.
So, little by little they drew from their son Richie’s inheritance, convincing themselves, and preparing records for their son, that they would restore any money which they spent on themselves.
As time drew on, however, Richie’s parents found themselves unable to pay their own debt from their purchases with their own money. Still discontented with their lot in life, Richie’s parents continued to spend their son’s inheritance, refusing to consider how much money they were also releasing to pay off previous debts and subsidize their pursuits.
With the passage of time, they acknowledged that they had not only dissipated their own wealth, they had not just wasted away their son’s inheritance, but they had amassed massive amounts of debt, of which the interest consumed what little money they made from year to year.
Coupled with this spending, the parents feared for their lives, not just because of demanding creditors, but also because of wars and rumors of wars in their country and throughout the world. Seeking an excuse to continue spending on themselves, they diverted their funds, still running up huge debts, to protecting themselves, involving their lives in the affairs of other people who were struggling to still greater extent.
Now they could justify their spending spree as a means to protect themselves and their child Richie from the menace of foreign peoples. And they continued to spend on themselves, borrowing from unscrupulous creditors who would fund the spend-thrift ways of the parents for their own financial interests.
The wars eventually did arrive, fueled in part by the very spending spree instigated by Richie’s parents. Looking for any means of escaping from the consequences of their poor decisions, Richie’s parents drew up a contract which would place all the debt, and all the liabilities associated with the debt, on their beautiful son Richie.
Of course, this disgraceful waste and fraud and pillaging against their son all took place while little Richie was a baby, a child who could not speak for himself, let alone stand up for himself.
When Richie’s parents finally did pass away, the young boy found himself facing an army of creditors in a hostile world, one where one would have expected him to enjoy a wondrous name and legacy, as his many illustrious ancestors had worked hard to provide and preserve for him.
Richie, a little boy made broke by the broken character of his parents, has no recourse, and no means to provide for himself. He owes money for debts which he did not run up, he must face enemies which he did not create, and he most resolve conflicts which he did not start.
Do we see this outrageous, tragic drama before us today?
We do, in the United States federal government, where previous administrations have promised rich legacies to our future, yet because of self-interest, fear, and unchecked human nature, politicians have not just spent away our children’s inheritance, but have burdened them with insurmountable debt.
For all our children, the immense injustice of this outcome should be enough to make any reader scream for redress.
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