We have two different schools of thought in American political circles in these dark times of excess. One school of thought bases itself on the teachings of Karl Marx (even though it doesn’t want to admit it). It is wowed by societies whose governments create a type of utopia where worldly ills are erased by groups of men who govern with a kind hand, who have knowledge that creates things that make our lives easier, who dispense love and comfort continually. The other school of thought bases itself on open economies, believing that a financial market that is unfettered can improve the standard of living of mankind and when a man achieves a certain level of financial capacity can direct himself in heightened capacities of ethics, education and morality. A balanced man has to look at these two warring factions and see the problems with both sides. In the socialist school of thought the question must be asked “where do men exist who have the capacity to rule wisely and how is it possible to take anything from anyone and give it to anyone else and create a fair and just system?” In the capitalist school of thought the question must be asked “what tempers capitalist excess?” Financial excess doesn’t lead to anything of a higher nature other than heightened greed. I believe we have to look away from the war that is being fought. I believe that we have been locked into a struggle so long on these two schools of thought that we have forgotten a much more prevalent school of thought that both of those warring factions participate in.
We live in a pluralistic society. It seems so many people won’t agree that there is a right or wrong way to do things. Society can’t exist without recognizing the contrasting nature of on and off, right and wrong and that some things fall outside of those extremes and are open to personal style or opinion.
I’ve heard so many people denounce another person’s arguments with “you are misinformed”, as if the person in possession of the greatest amount of data is somehow superior. Our current president has spoken this way about his own electorate (or at leas the part that doesn’t agree with him) If you can’t separate that data and glean facts from chafe all the data you can accumulate is worthless. Many people don’t even make an effort to collect data and let other people spoon feed them; that much is true, but its not simply enough to be informed, we must be properly informed.
I see our society becoming less intellectual, more base and more savage with every year that passes in my life. There was a time in this country that the poor were more often than not poor due to lack of education, yet they had a moral integrity and work ethic that was unsurpassed. Now we see a poorer class that many times parallels the entitlement class. The entitlement class survives on handouts and will go to amazing lengths to maximize the handouts they receive. (the welfare mother who keeps having children to get a larger check, the person who doesn’t look for a job so they can stay on unemployment, the litigious people in society who job the system to get an easy living, etc.). Yet on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the so called “upper class” in this country. Somewhere along the line the gentry of our society has changed from being the bold, ethical, well educated people who improved society to those who make the most money and have the best toys. Aren’t these two classes the same though? The “lower” class is a slave of handouts and the “upper” class is a slave of participating in some game that brings no true meaning to its life.
Americans for the most part are disengaged and are unappreciative of their voting power and freedoms, there is no doubt about this due to the numbers of people who go to the polls every year. Even if everyone would go to the polls there is a hidden danger in the type of engagement that Americans can exercise though. Our country is a Republic and our government perseveres through representation, but when those who are represented figure out that they can, by mob rule sway policy to increase their own position our gov’t becomes a Democracy, then Democracy always fails. We see this frequently when you have a disengaged populace and a few engaged special interest groups. Many of the labor unions sway voting members to vote to increase their own position at the expense of the rest of the populace. It’s sad that this happens because there is a place for the labor union to protect the basic rights of workers when the government hasn’t the power to police them, yet once again where are the people wise enough to enact this control in society?
It seems mankind rarely takes the middle road of informed decision. It seems that throughout history mankind has to achieve a pinball effect with regards to decisions, bouncing from one extreme to another, feeling every smack and wallop along the path.
Socialism deserves scorn. Socialism is a wreck of a societal experiment that simply can’t work because it goes against some of the best common sense man has ever realized; that no one should have to work who doesn’t get something in return, or if they do work for no return it should be of their own accord. This is one of the most basic premises of our Bill of Rights, a document of which has no equal in the political world and fashioned the greatness of our country.
Socialism is the bane of capitalism. Capitalism properly orchestrated can achieve many of the dreams of the Bill of Rights, but the problem isn’t just one of socialism, because capitalism in and of itself has no higher motivating factor other than greed. The problem is a deeper one and its present wherever humankind stoops to base motives. The problem is present where men act like animals and let their sensual desires control them and consume them. Right now this country is completely controlled by greed, misdirected ambition, irresponsibility and lusts of all manner and degree.
If our society wishes to first recognize there is a high road, then take it, perhaps then we can regain some of what Ronald Reagan referred to as a “City Upon a Hill”, but wait, before we fully attribute that ideal to Reagan, we should look a bit further and realize that Reagan was borrowing a much wiser person’s statements:
Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden”
There is nothing wrong with being that shining city on a hill…. nothing at all, but it is something that won’t be achieved through litigation, greed, irresponsibility or entitlement and the problem is that right now America is still a city on a hill, but its not shining anymore. The stench of corruption and the whoredom in the streets is in plain sight for the entire world to see and its quite despicable.
Can we restore America’s greatness without destroying her culture? We recognize the question; can we restore America to past grandeur without changing it to the point that its unrecognizable? I’d say the question is probably asked because those who ask it think the damage is too great to be undone.
I would say, yes we can restore America and we can do it without changing our culture. However its worth noting that America has many subcultures, and the prevalent one must be destroyed if America ever has any hope of surviving. The culture that has grown from the late 70′s till now isn’t America’s true culture. I see the culture of America as having been formed in the mid 1800s, after the Civil War, during the Depression, it was during the hard times, times that built character that our country’s culture was truly formed…. there are people throughout this world who have been touched by our country’s benevolence and love, who remember that culture, many of us profit from the things that culture produced on a daily basis… but this more recent culture of excess, ignorance and irresponsibility is fairly new, certainly not a culture worth keeping and it must be destroyed to restore America.
I love my country and I do believe it has the resources, mentality and power to bring about good in the world, but that is only because at one time its citizenry followed a higher calling and recognized a higher power that guided them in their lives. Our leaders need to surround themselves with wise people… not people with knowledge, but people who understand the world and why we are here, that is the definition of wisdom. Only then will our country right itself. You and I and everyone should surround ourselves with wise people who can lead us and give us advice that we can use to direct our own paths… but look at how many people surround themselves with fools on a daily basis (everytime a person spends hours of their day inertly watching television are they not in essence surrounding themselves with fools, considering the substance of television nowadays?)
“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20
I don’t think any political ideal or social ideal can change society for the better. The only thing I’ve ever seen that can truly change society for the better is love. Yes capitalism can change society in and of itself… it can make our lives easier but if it isn’t tempered with self control and love you see the product of that capitalism become fat, lazy and irresponsible.
A public school servant here in our county school system once said “we were so worried about giving our children what we didn’t have we didn’t give them what we had”
That statement is a perfect description of what is wrong with America right now. The current generation thinks life is about accumulating toys, sad because generations past didn’t have mountains of toys when they were actually children and they did just fine. Now we start our children off young with a room for their toys, how can we expect them to do anything besides devote their lives to stockpiling them when they get older? We don’t teach our children the basic ways to live, how to take care of themselves. We Americans show our children how to job the system to make it take care of us. America was built on the backs of the poor, the rich and the struggling who all had a common thread throughout their lives, they were inventive and they had a pioneer spirit. They didn’t need anyone to take care of them physically. They took care of themselves and the rest was left up to God. Where is that spirit here in the year of our Lord, 2010?
And why do you worry about material things? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not struggle and work to create material things. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor had garments like one of these. If that is how God clothes the flowers in the field, which is only on Earth for a short time, imagine how much grander you’ll be clothed, O you of little faith? – Matthew 6:28-30 (paraphrased)
The capitalist dream produces a system where the masses work long hours for a paycheck, let the state raise their kids, eat food that is horrible for them because they don’t have the initiative to provide good food for themselves and plop in front of a TV that massages the mush between their ears for hours a day are missing out on the dream their forefathers had. Life is more than corporate slogans and ad campaigns, life is more than American Idol and Big Macs, life is more than going to a warehouse to buy something that should be in a country store and honestly you shouldn’t be able to go to your local town and get anything you want whenever you want it. Yes the capitalist dream gives us all the leisure time and wants we desire (when we aren’t working long hours) but what is it all for?
On the other hand the socialistic dream produces some assisted living a government can steal from the masses and spoonfeed to everyone as it sees fit, life is more than a collection of uppity pinheads trying to tell you what you can and can’t do. Life is full of mistakes and uncertainty and the mountains of insurance bills and lawyer fees we pay will never change it. Our lives should not be led by people who are on the same plane that we are on. We should be free.
We can restore America but we need to realize that the American tradition isn’t set it stone but some of the ideals our forefathers had were timeless. The larger issue is the pluralism that has steer our passions into fighting for a Capitalist cause or a Socialist cause that ultimately make us a slave to the same master. Even though we should respect our forefathers and give them honor for discovering the American ideal, we must take it a step further and look beyond the words they wrote and discover where those ideals came from. We are beings that were created for a purpose, we were created with a higher calling. We were obviously designed in the likeness of something that was higher than an animal. Because of this origin we are not robots and we aren’t slaves to our instincts or base desires. We have been granted life, we should be free and we should be able to pursue our happiness… since we all begin on a level playing field and end on a level playing field what right has any man or group of men to tell us otherwise? The only one who could ever be above this or outside of this system is our creator, God.
America has had its ups and downs in its short and tumultuous history… we must change our path, but I don’t care if the new path we take leads us away from debt, irresponsibility, Walmart, MacDonalds, Lehman Brothers or Fannie Mae, Medicare and Obama’s Healthcare plan…. those are the extremes in that pinball machine I spoke of earlier. That is a culture that deserves to be destroyed. America has destroyed other cultures before. We destroyed a culture of Southern Antebellum elitism, we destroyed a culture of segregation, we destroyed a culture of robber baronism. I hope our future path takes us to places that are tempered by an understanding of who we are, why we are here and what we should be doing… I hope that the extremes we have experienced in the past can be lessened… I hope that we can weigh our decisions better and remove the animalistic nature thats crept into our society and create a culture that glorifies our creator and extends a helping hand to our fellow man. When we reach that point we will have found a culture that is worth being proud of.