In America, our society is founded on the idea of capitalism. It is a deeply entrenched system that has spanned space and time to effect and influence the structure of our modern day society in an undeniable way.

Every week, we go to class in order to achieve better grades in an effort to receive a degree, to eventually follow the well-trodden path in search of a career, and inevitably, a paycheck. Money has become an idol that has driven many of us to worship it and obey its law. It is supposedly the motivation that society needs to further itself in a prosperous and progressive direction.

But how many of us actually sit back and reflect on how this system, that produces an extremely disproportional distribution of financial assets, affects our society, and what the implications of paying someone minimum wage, while the CEO makes millions, even billions of dollars, has on the social and political dimensions of society?

Socially, it has a divided society, where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, or so the old adage goes. In reality, there is a vast amount of wealth concentrated within a handful of elites in America. What is paramount to the issue is that Americans try to understand the type of society they are living in. A society that rewards those who use their financial means to exploit the majority of wage earners in attempt to create a highly profitable end result for their own personal gain, a system that rewards self-interest over social interest.

The idea of self-interest versus social interest is an important one, and basically is the main grounds for arguing for or against a capitalist system. It has been said that those with the greatest amount of money are therefore able to do the greatest amount of good. While, in theory, this may be a true statement, in practice, the wealth of the United States has become more concentrated than ever, with the majority of society being cut off from these exorbitant funds, funds that are used mainly to improve one’s own standing in society. The fact is, not everyone has access to the opportunities that would lead to a prosperous adult life in America. Privilege and other intangible factors often dictate a person’s place in society. Even if an individual is extremely talented in numerous ways, the fact is, not everyone has the same opportunity in life to develop and make the most of those talents in a way that would lead to financial prosperity.

Politically, it is fairly clear that most national campaigns are won and lost in large part due to the amount of spending that a candidate can procure. The sad truth is that capitalism and politics have become intertwined so much so that it has led to a major increase in the power of lobbyists and special interests groups, who spend millions to gain their desired political votes in Congress.

This is what the structure our society has evolved to, one where the lines between our political body and the influence of non-governmental funding over that political body have become blurred. We, as American citizens, are mostly passengers along for the ride.We are expected to appreciate our role in society without the benefit of an exorbitant amount of wealth that a significantly small percentage of Americans enjoy, an enjoyment that has had significant influence on our nation’s political system.

With the reality of wealth distribution in America in mind, I still feel as though as an American citizen, I have much more privilege than the average human being on this planet. This is where the conversation becomes real, when we realize that although the wealth gap in America is significant, on a global scale, the difference between an average American wage earner and an average person who lives in an impoverished country such as Haiti or Nicaragua is nearly incomprehensible. Although I do not consider myself a wealthy person financially, I have the privilege of getting an education, while living in a prosperous state that is free from the numerous forms of war and destruction that affect the world, a privilege that many of us, including myself, often forget. This is why the conversation about the conversation about wealth distribution in the U.S. should go beyond those who live in the lap of luxury to include consideration of the millions of human beings who lack sufficient food, water, and shelter with the mindset that this disparity is driven by self interest, an unavoidable product of capitalism.