In part sparked by a recent book I read (American Subversive, which I bought at an independent bookstore, but I linked to Amazon for convenience), I’ve been pondering the morass that is our political climate and the tangents we fixate on. It’s not that abortion, gay marriage or other such things are completely unimportant, but they are not “the” important things and they’re divisive rather than unitive. I can’t help but think that the constant spotlight on such things is intended to divide us.
If we ask ourselves what is truly important, it’s fairly obvious and I think we all could agree. People are important. How do I get enough food to eat? How can I live a long, healthy and productive life? How can I have good relationships with neighbors and loved ones? How can I take care of my family (or enable them to take care of me)? Survival, health, social life, that’s it. Maybe a little freedom thrown in (i.e., freedom to have one’s own faith and thoughts).
Profit is not necessarily compatible with that. It’s cheaper to lay waste – to the environment, to our health, to our lives (to our foreign neighbor’s lives), in the pursuit of easy money. Politicians know this – that’s why they focus on fringe and relatively money-neutral issues like abortion (whether it’s legal or not has very little impact on industry, on the economy).
If I had to come up with a political slogan, to drive us out of this mess, I’d say:
People Over Profit
Uncompromising – everything good can follow from this. Any politician who runs with that slogan (rather than something generic and disposable like “Change” or “Hope”), we could trust. People Over Profit would mean that citizens would always be prioritized above industry/economy. If it’s good for people (like environmental regulations regulating hydraulic fracturing), but potentially damaging to industry, there would be no question – government is there primarily for the people not to keep money flowing. People over profit seems like a pipe dream, but maybe someday.
Profit contrapositive
so-called “right” and “left”
When have you heard Dem or Rep
say people > business?
Speaking of profit over people in politics, the recent announcement that Meredith Attwell Baker will retire from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in June and assume a job with NBC/Comcast as a lobbyist, after she had just spearheaded the approval of the NBC/Comcast merger (by FCC) is what other people might call corruption, but in fact, it’s perfectly legal in the good ole U.S. of A.! NY Times article here.