Originally Posted by spence
The GDP of our nation is the output of a very complex system. Our great wealth is a function of this system which would collapse without structure. Not everybody can be rich, and the rich have built their fortunes (directly or indirectly) on the backs of others.
Yes, the GDP is a result of the system. The system produces the rich. Great wealth is functioned from the system. Some stumble into the automatic outputs and become rich. The backs of "others" are strained by this fortuitous accident backed into by the rich. There, bereft of system grace, go the "others" who were not fortunate enough to stumble into the right output. The outputs were already occupied by the rich, thus denying the "others."
Bureaucratic compassion is critical part of our economic health, and like everything, should of course be carefully measured.
Yes, the antidote to the heartless rich is the compassion of the system. It will divest the greedy of their unfair, ill-gotten gains and place the "others" into the alternate compassionate outputs reserved for those unluckies that didn't accidentally fall into the right slots. Carefully measured, of course.
I think this is more a function of the individual. The individual is responsible for how they feel about the benefits they may gain from the system. Certainly entitlements can after a period of time make people accustomed to certain behavior, but it's still up to the individual to determine how this is received.
The "other" must, as you say, function correctly within the parameters of the system. The "other" is responsible for correct feelings for their fortunate, guided, placement into the remunaritive output. The "other" must not incorrectly receive the output entitlement, though it is for the "other" to determine the manner of reception.
This has nothing to do with class by the way. I'd argue that the corporate elite is just as used to handouts as some welfare recipients.
The corporate elite, of course, as you say, having unjustly, accidentally, fallen into propitious systemic outputs, are as susceptible as the "other" to expecting the entitlements and so must be careful how they receive them lest they be forced to redistribute the gifts back to the system. They must be sure to stroke the correct elements.
The very fact that our government has *any* Federal power is affirmation that some problems require a collective solution.
It is a fact that the system requires Federal power for all solutions, lest renegades such as States, local units, so-called individuals create a disfunction in the complex output. This would be inneficient. System compassion would be challenged. Chaos, starvation, death would ensue.
This is a misrepresentation of the facts. Even the "needy" end up contributing quite a bit under the current system.
The "needy" are the most important cog in the system. Without the needy, the system would collapse.
Some elements of "normal" are certainly in flux. Although, when values are pared down to the essential elements there's very little separation between liberal and conservative ideas as practiced by the bulk of Americans.
"Normal" is always safely in the middle of the flux. "Normal" is always the centrist position in the ever-changing flux of the expanding system. "Normal" cannot deviate toward the dangerous edge of the system. "Normal" must not make definite statements, nor adhere to opinions or beliefs tainted with individualist perception. The amorphous, soft-edged, malleable concensus of the collective is the guide of the "normal." The ever-expanding system must accomodate all new inputs and remold them into system outputs . . .
|