Do you have to be poor to advocate for the poor?

Asked by Judi (40025) November 20th, 2013 from iPhone

I put this quote that a jelly helped me attribute to Bill Moyers on my Facebook page:
“Capitalism is like fire, a good servant but a bad master. If we don’t dethrone our present system of financial capitalism that rewards those at the top who then use it to rig the rules against even the most reasonable check on their excesses, It will consume us. And that fragile, thin line between democracy and a darker social order will be extinguished.”
I got this reply from a friend:
“There is nothing stopping you Judi from giving away all you and jeff have worked for and move into Government assigned housing. it might limit the planes and cars you drive, the vacations you take and the jewelry you wear, but you would be living your words instead of blaming a system that rewards results, risk taking and many sleepless nights.”

I am no stranger to poverty and she knows this. I have been blessed beyond measure in the last 20 years but I know what it’s like to wonder how I was going to feed my kids and to choose between rent and taking a kid with an ear ache to the doctor.
This was my reply to her:

“Just because I have a lot does not mean I should be exempt from checks and balances. If you read the quote it said nothing about capitalism being bad in itself, it said that like fire it needs some controls. People can work hard and flourish even with checks and balances.
I also believe that the idea that hard work creates wealth is a fallacy. I never worked harder than I did for minimum wage wiping butts in a nursing home. That hard work didn’t lead to wealth. Being blessed to be married to someone with a high dollar marketable talent and having bread and butter accounts because of the right connections lead to wealth.
You don’t have to be poor to recognize that “the least of these” are being vilified and abused.”

So my question is, does someone with means have the moral authority to call out a corrupt system, even if they have flourished in it?