This entry is a break from my book. It has nothing to do with fishing but more of a political response to “Meet The Press,” which aired Sunday the 21st of February. If you are not interested, PLEASE DON'T READ!! However, if you are looking for the book entry, please scroll down.
The question was asked about a couple articles in the past week stating Washington was ‘frozen’ and our government was no longer working. We are at a stalemate and the assumption is that because of 'politics,' our elected officials are jumping immediately to the opposite side of the isle shooting down any bill or any compromise that comes from the opposing party. There is no longer even the idea of compromise and because of this; we the people are being hurt. It is true.
During the show, the Tea Party movement was brought up and one of the panelists were asked if it was a republican movement to which he said something to the sort of no, it was a movement created by people who are tired of government spending and want the government out of their lives.
Here’s the problem. Most of every action I take as an individual is for my benefit and I’m motivated by my goals. If I want to make a lot of money, I take a job or I engage in behaviors that make me money. It’s important that I make money because I have bills like everyone else and need to fulfill my obligations to others. I also need to eat, pay for gas, and I would like to have fun from time to time.
Much of our lives are based on the pursuit of money, which makes money become a very valuable resource; one that is limited. I can’t just go out and print my own money so I have to get it one way or another. On the most fundamental level, my pursuit of money could take on absolutely any shape being obtained by any means necessary. I could go to work at a job I hate, I could steal, I could beg, I could sell drugs or I could find some skill that I’m really good at that people will pay for. However, because I’m like most people, I don’t like to work any harder than I have to, to get my money.
Now I realize I’m simplifying this for argument sake. There are many other things in our lives that we pursue and it’s based on our individual wants and desires. Some of us want fame. Some want to have fun. Some are just trying to survive. We all have needs and desires and at any given time, certain needs take precedent and we put more focus on them.
What’s important here is that we all have choices on how these individual needs are being met and we are all going to use the available resources to obtain those needs unless the use of the available resource somehow compromises other important needs, i.e., having a clear conscious, staying out of jail, having to spend money on fines, etc.
Now before you all jump in and start the, “what about what’s right and wrong argument,” I’m getting to that. What dictates our means to obtaining the various ends in our life are values, principles and probably more so, ideology.
Some of us learned values in church that were socialized into us from early on. We have what we think is a good understanding of right and wrong based on our own personal experience. This is where perspective comes from and it can be very different from one person to the other based on their own experiences. One can’t assume another has the same values or the same sense of right or wrong because they don’t know what family system they were raised in and they have no idea what their religious beliefs are that may or may not be consistent with their own. We live in a country that has probably the most diverse religious beliefs and socializing forces. Because of this, our many ‘gods’ have no business in politics because there is no way one god can represent all of us.
Principles of virtue such as respect, love, integrity and the ‘golden rule’ also help to influence our behaviors. In my opinion, these should be the governing force that dictates all our actions but they are difficult because quite often, they would hamper us from being the most efficient in the pursuit of our needs; especially as it pertains to the almighty dollar.
Ethics are defined here and I’m sure you all can come up with hundreds of examples of where political figures and corporate heads failed miserably to follow those ethics. It’s because temptation is too great and we are fallible. It is difficult to always do the right thing regardless of how important that is to you as the individual.
So what happens is we fall to ideology which is more of the accepted rules and regulations that develop a paradigm through which we live our lives. This paradigm is reinforced daily by the things we see from those that are in front of us, i.e. professional athletes, politicians, teachers, news anchors, etc. They are accepted ideas that govern the way we conduct ourselves on many different levels. They aren’t definitions of right or wrong but more of a map through the fog that may or may not be clear. In our country, one of the most powerful driving forces is the ideology of the free market.
The free market doesn’t care about what is right or wrong it only cares about how to make more. Sometimes it parallels doing what is right but it is not dependant on it. Prices of the things we need are based on this ideology that states that one should charge for goods and services what one can and still maintain the demand. In a perfect world, competition regulates the prices and the quality because it gives the consumer a choice. What’s important here is that none of this has to do with what is right or wrong or what is best for the whole but only what is best for the individual—on both sides, the consumer and the producer.
Before you all think I’m a socialist or communist I’m not saying this is entirely bad. For most of the products we consume, I think it’s a good thing because there are very few things I can think of that I can’t do without. So I have choices. And I can choose to go without, which doesn’t benefit either party. However, when it comes to our current state, especially in healthcare, education, and housing, we are getting raped. When you look at the driving ideology in these industries being the free market, you can see where it’s easy for people to be taken advantage of. Our healthcare system isn’t there to help people; it’s there to make money. The same in higher education and these things are for the most part, a necessity for us, which makes us as the consumer extremely vulnerable.
I guess what I’m saying is that all you Tea Party proponents should be careful what you wish for. I’m not saying the government is always the best at defining or adhering to that moral compass we wish they would follow but without them what do we have? A system based solely on individual needs? Do you think that’s really the way to go? The housing industry collapsed because of deregulation and greed. The healthcare system has become a machine spinning out of control where insurance companies take 30% of the entire revenue generated. They have nothing to do with provided services but mediating what services you are allowed to use and again, it’s based on money.
What I might suggest is that next time you go to vote, vote for those folks that base their decisions on principles. Our government is being held hostage by those folks that are in an ideological battle, which has little to do with what is best for us as a whole. They are oppositionally defiant and will never cross the isle for compromise because they want to hold on to what might benefit them personally in the political area as opposed to using the political arena for the benefit of us all.
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