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The Occupy movement is hands down the most potent culmination of moral and sociopolitical purpose I have seen on this large a scale in my lifetime.  As a youth I aspired to embrace the ideas of the 60′s that I was exposed by my parents, but it rocks to have something alive and new to be part of.  It’s leading us to evolve our expectations of democracy.  Or for many of us, it’s finally starting to seem plausible that we might finally knock some sense into the world.  The early months of Occupy have done tremendous good in gathering attention to the problems of inequality and greed, and we have established new networks of commitment with like-minded folks to push for change.  Having followed the movement closely, it’s becoming clear to me that ideas are important.  Really important.

While pondering the ridiculousness of the polarized political idioms that pervade our language and funnel mainstream thought into a pointless stalemate, I stumbled across a simple idea.  Perhaps this, or something like it, can dislodge us from the narrow stereotypes that conventional left/right thinking tends to follow.

CompensationContribution

If we could somehow guarantee that every person’s compensation matched their contribution, then our economic problems would cease to exist.  Nobody gets any more wealth than that which they have created for others.  Perhaps it’s here, at this embarrassingly simple point of equilibrium where capitalism and socialism can harmoniously coexist.  What if?

Let’s imagine a world that operates perfectly by this rule.  How?  Well you see, it’s metaphysically enforced by angels who run the cosmic bank.  Ok, now what would it be like to live in such a world?  If you are poor and in dire need of money, then all you do is just start contributing to others.  In this imaginary world, you would be compensated instantaneously and fairly.  If getting rich is your thing, then just do something big,  something that will contribute to many people and you can be generously compensated.  Just don’t harm anyone or the environment in the process.  Harm is a negative contribution, so if you do that it will cut into your compensation.  There’s no hiding from the angels, for they see your every thought.  You would never see any sneaky subliminal advertisements that try to sell crap you don’t need.  Businesses only get compensated for contributing to an actual need, so there would never be any point in pursuing annoying sales tactics that promote over-consumption.

Although imagining such a world on the outside seems unrealistic, couldn’t it be the truth that it’s already how things work on the inside?  A person who has compensation that matches their contribution will always be happier and at greater inner peace than a person who doesn’t, regardless of which way the imbalance lies.  Above all, this tells me that we must unlearn the habit of blocking our own conscience in order to win, and relax our survival strategy to encompass a broader and more natural set of goals.  By doing so, we not only stop oppressing others, but we fulfill our own need to be at peace and in better health.

I have committed, and I invite others to commit to try and live by this rule (at least in terms of your thinking), if for a few days, and see how it feels.  If it feels good, then keep doing it!

Freedom and Responsibility

In discussions with Tea Party supporters, I often encounter the strongly held belief in personal freedom over governmental control.  Being a person who strongly values freedom, I am drawn to try and hear what they have to say.  What seems to always be missing from their argument, however, is the notion of responsibility and how it relates to freedom.  It’s a very old concept and an extremely simple one.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

This quote simply points out some common-sense universal wisdom that is neither liberal nor conservative. If you gain the freedom to own guns, then you also gain the responsibility of using them safely.  If you gain the freedom to drink alcohol (or smoke weed for that matter) then you also gain the responsibility of ensuring it doesn’t destroy your life.  If you gain the freedom to have abortions then you also gain the responsibility of preventing unwanted pregnancy in the first place.  If you gain the freedom to burn fossil fuels then you also gain the responsibility of ensuring it doesn’t destroy the planet.

These aren’t laws I speak of, just innate relationships between freedom and responsibility that can be observed everywhere.  In all cases there are debates about what the laws should or shouldn’t be.  There are those who want to de-legislate because their innate right to personal freedom is being violated.  Then there are those who want to legislate because too many who gain the freedom do not adequately manage the responsibility that comes with it.

I agree that personal freedom is something we don’t have enough of in our society.  I just disagree with the strategy of pursuing freedom as a goal unto itself.  If we want more freedom, we must earn it by becoming more responsible.  The more responsible a society becomes, the less government it requires.  There are no short cuts!

This began as a (long) comment on a friend’s Facebook status.  I’m promoting it to a full blog entry, because I really want to share and hear what more people think.  The topic was Occupy Wall Street, and how some deep differences in philosophical views may be what keep the lefties and righties in sharp disagreement with regard to how they think the economy needs to be fixed.

Those who know me well will know that I’m a leftie, but one of the values I embrace is constructive conflict.  I try to resist getting angry and judgmental when hearing the same old arguments from righties again and again.  Both lefties and righties love to bitch about the other side but rarely do they actually engage in meaningful dialogue to try and understand their differences.  I originally posted these thoughts on the status of a rightie Facebook friend who opposes tax increases on the wealthy and anything that places more burden on private businesses.

As I see it, one of the real roots of the problem is the competitiveness that is pervasive in our culture.  Historically, Americans have been experts at winning the wealth game and staying on top.  This has arguably been good for the nation’s economy, and many people who weren’t born rich can learn to play the game and become a winner too.  These notions of “freedom” and “equal opportunity” at the heart of America’s pride are arguably good things, but let’s think bigger.  What kind of world is this creating?  If you strive to always beat everyone else by winning the game and getting the lion’s share of bounty before anyone else gets to it, then you are creating a world in which other people are forced to play that game as well, or be left in the dirt and have nothing.  It is a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Greed spreads like a virus.  There is a fear in our colonial minds that if we don’t get there first, someone else will, and so we’d better make sure we get there first.  It creates a world of scarcity and frenzied competition, when really there is more than enough to go around.  If everyone could realize how crazy this is and just slow down a bit, we wouldn’t all have to race and compete so much. This habit of competitiveness is so deeply ingrained in western culture that we don’t even realize that other possibilities exist.

The one time I went travelling in Mexico (Baja), it struck me just how laid back Mexicans are.  I really noticed a glow in their eyes and feeling of peace and enjoyment of life about them.  I had never seen such a beautifully simple lifestyle before.  I was jealous!  The people I met there were not racing to get to the top, and they were happy.  It was disturbing to realize how most people in our culture have lost this, and don’t even realize it because they’ve never seen anything else.  Even if they did see it, how could the ultra-successful Americans possibly have anything to learn from Mexican culture?

So, this is why I don’t like the idea that poor people should just be given equal opportunity and rights, and then be expected to play the game as well.  Admittedly, it’s better than nothing, but it still isn’t right.  It is this deeply ingrained assumption that competitiveness is a normal and necessary part of life that is flawed, in my view.  It’s like saying “here, if you don’t want to be exploited, you are welcome to join the game and then you can exploit others too, and you won’t have to be poor”. There is just something very wrong with that.  It is wrong to impose one’s culture on others, but it is even more wrong when the culture you are imposing is one that is unbalanced, greed-ridden, and unhealthy for both the oppressed and the oppressors themselves.

If the righties are still reading at this point, they may be thinking that I condemn Capitalism itself.  I do not.  To me, there is a subtle but key difference between striving to win, versus striving for greatness.  If one’s goal is to win, become wealthier than others, then what one is really striving for is inequality.  To me, striving for greatness has to do with making a large contribution that reaches many people.  There should be wealth that comes out of that, but wealth that is proportional to one’s contribution is well deserved.

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