obvious cognitive dissonance among
fundies who as Conservatives tout the holiness of personal responsibility while
assuming that we are helpless against our human sinner natures
the normative thought seems to be
"these criteria define appropriate ways of being human -- reality need not
apply."
When you judge a group by the most egregiously
extreme of their members, of course you will judge that group
poorly.
Fighting to survive, responding to threats with
aggressive action, does not jump to wars of convenience or even necessarily war
at all. Of
course the living will violently DEFEND themselves from perceived attack, or
kill for food. We think through enough to build weapons, strategize, create
armies. We could, with a better will, use that energy to strategize for
peace. Certainly, thinking,communicating beings can develop
more
useful strategies for dispute negotiations. That is once we get over this silly
notion that armed conflict is honorable, or inevitable.
Everyone can be as successful as
they want, if they define success as the stretch they get from reaching for
personal goals.
science
is a creature of culture; we see what we have the vision to see
economic
thought and therefore policy is too dependent on unproven
theory
It can be argued that more equitable
distribution of access to resources is both more democratic as the majority of
people can vote with their dollars for the kinds of goods and services we want,
and better for economic growth and the optimal functioning of market
economy.
There appears to be a spell long cast upon the people to
integrate into our basic understanding of the world this idea of market based
economy as a given. Economics, money, even mathematics, are human constructs,
ideas, not reality. When economic systems, ideas we have joined in promoting, do
not well serve human enterprise and needs, the people ought not feel it is we
who must adjust to serve the economy. Rather, it is those ideas that need
adjustment to better fit our purpose.
However, as the logical progression of market thinking
dictates, those who have benefited, who have bases of power that serve them well
by their lights, want the rest to live and die in thrall to the system that
these powerful command. A useful subterfuge is to convince the bulk of us that
the system is not only inevitable, but in our best interest if only they will
work hard enough and cast our doubts and blame into burning hatred for the
designated losers.
At this time business and social enterprises
of all kinds are going through revolutionary changes thus that business
experience of the past into the present will be irrelevant to enterprises of
even the near future.
Until we get somebody born
in space, we are all tied to Earth.
when most of us are complacent, or too busy
trying to tread water to notice much beyond our immediate sea, those with ugly
axes needing grinding or with excellent profit projections on destruction are
going to set the scene.
If they were listening, I would
say:
figure it out
but first, think about your
precepts
and, most importantly,
where you want to be
(not where you should; or where you
could)
on the other side.
So envious of the unwanted?
Quit your lousy job, too taxed, too overworked, too ignored.
Surely you deserve better those
under. Enjoy your natural bounty, and all that our country offers.
Taxes? Ever it has been so in
our culture. Jesus was born, so the story goes, when his mortal
parents
were on the road to pay required
tithes of their livelihoods. For the privilege of doing business,
trading
our time and skills for pay, the
top takes their cut. We pay our homage and percentage to our lord,
and hope his armies will protect
us from invading hordes.
If you don’t like the system
developed over eons for the benefit of those who have forced their
way
to be in charge, create a better
one. Then (here’s the trick) sell it to a majority; and make them care
enough
to follow through.
Money will never be out of
politics. It’s too attractive a game. The only way around that is to make
money
irrelevant. The people would
need to understand and agree on better leadership, better policies, that
are
personally meaningful to them.
They need to feel a real stake, real reason to believe it’s not all
fixed
beyond their ability to make a
difference. And, it’s got to be easy to begin.
take
the time to feel the music and dance where no one is watching
Others will be employed and able to make their own contributions to the general revenue; but for right now that has not happened.
Yet, these people are all actively contributing to the overall economy while their lives are sorting out. Fewer people are actively sick and destitute on the streets, and thus not bringing down property values, causing problems for local businesses, presenting disincentives for people of means to shop or enjoy public space, or presenting even greater problems for health care and crime industries.