A new era in American giving?

Warren Buffett wants to give 99 percent of his wealth before he dies. I’d like to do that, too.

I grew up learning simultaneously that a man is entitled to what he earns and that a rich man is a good man only if he gives back to the community that helped make him rich.

Having spent several weeks in the United Kingdom, a country that continues to support a monarchy with tax dollars, I think the idea of the wealthy philanthropist is special part of American culture.

Last week, Fortune magazine ran a story about a plan by Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates to convince America’s billionaires to donate at least half of their wealth to charity during their life or upon their death.

That was the starting point; ideally, they’d like to raise the pledge threshold even higher.

In a political climate awash with doomsday scenarios about socialist politicians and crooked CEOs, it is good to finally see the elite doing something noble.

Buffett and the Gateses are setting an example for their peers and continuing a long tradition of American philanthropy.

The trio have organized several meetings of the richest men and women in America, and while it has taken several years (and several extravagant dinners — these are billionaires after all) to forge the pledge, those dinners were the start of what could be a new era in this country’s charitable history.

Americans tend to suspect the worst from the wealthy, especially after the string of white-collar crimes that defined the first part of the 21st century, but Gates and Buffett are reminding us that rich people in America used to be a source of community support.

At their best, rich Americans earned their money through ingenuity, genius or just plain old hard work, never through trust funds or inheritances, and they always used their wealth to benefit the community that helped make them rich. At least, that’s we say about ourselves before we get the money.

Gates, Winfrey, Buffett — these are the names of self-made Americans, modern faces of the American Dream. It only makes sense that the people who earned their billions the hard way are the ones telling their affluent peers that they need to give away their money — preferably during their lives and definitely when they die.

During this time of economic crisis, having an upper class that believes in the same values as the average person is incredibly important.

I don’t know Buffett or the Gateses, but this pledge lets me know that, despite some obvious differences in our lifestyles, we believe in the same things.

The idea of having an upper class we can count on could do a lot to ease the tensions that are strangling American discourse — and that’s perhaps a greater gift than even the billions they’ll donate at home and abroad.

But the money works, too.


E-mail: thommill@indiana.edu