Actually I was not in a bad mood when I posted the NY Times link, and I was not "outraged" in the sense of "feeling" any kind of anger or rage. I was simply "disturbed." I was disturbed by the unfairness, not for myself. I have no complaints, nor do I have any reason to complain. I was and am disturbed that a few individuals are extravagantly rewarded for a mild (and possibly transient) upturn in the economy, while millions have seen almost no improvement in their lot, rarely through any fault of their own and many of whom are children.
Early this morning I was tempted to post another link on Facebook, What if You Held Class War and No One Showed Up? In reaction to right-wing Marco Rubio's criticism of President Obama's recent press conference, writer Kevin Drum responds:
"For about the thousandth time, my mind wanders over the past ten years. Republicans got the tax cuts they wanted. They got the financial deregulation they wanted. They got the wars they wanted. They got the unfunded spending increases they wanted. And the results were completely, unrelentingly disastrous. A decade of sluggish growth and near-zero wage increases. A massive housing bubble. Trillions of dollars in war spending and thousands of American lives lost. A financial collapse. A soaring long-term deficit. Sky-high unemployment. All on their watch and all due to policies they eagerly supported."So why did I not post that link?. After all, I happen to believe there is considerable truth in it, not just in the quote above, but in the entire article. But the fact of the matter is that the deeper I dig into questions about the economy the more complicated it becomes.
Moreover, it seems clearer and clearer to me that much of the problem is partisanship. Both sides seem more intent on seeing the other side fail than in solving the real problems of real people. Another case in point is that several of my Facebook friends have recently posted links to articles from the conservative or right-wing viewpoint. I thoughtfully read these articles to get another viewpoint, and in all three cases, the purpose of the article was to be critical and tear down the other side. In none did I find any suggestions for ways to make our nation better.
Several times, many times actually, since I joined Facebook, I have forsworn ever posting any thoughts or links of a political or economic nature again. There are plenty of other issues to update my FB friends on, things like safe drinking water, human rights, human trafficking, child abuse, religious tolerance, spiritual development, and more. But even though I do not have all the answers, maybe very few, nonetheless economic and political issues have very real moral and spiritual implications. So I will try to be more circumspect in my postings, and especially try to be better about not polarizing these issues, but I cannot stop speaking out.
No doubt there will be times when my ire will be provoked. There will surely be times when moral "outrage" is called for. But never should I hope to distance myself from my friends. If we disagree, and we may well, my goal would be to step back a bit and find a way to dialog.
So let me end with another link. This one is to How the Left and the Right can Unite from Yes! Magazine. I have read this article carefully at least twice and mostly agree with it. I have not yet taken the time to research Yes! Magazine, but I intend to. Here is a quote from David Korten.
"If those on each side of America’s deep political divide could see the merit in the arguments of those on the other, we might come together as a powerful citizen alliance. We could break up concentrations of corporate power, get money out of politics, end senseless wars, achieve an equitable distribution of wealth, downsize government, and hold politicians accountable to an authentic popular will. That is an agenda that principled conservatives and liberals should all be able to get behind."I like that so much, I may even post a link to it separately. Have a nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment