Challenges

There are many challenges facing us each day, or is it really we who face the many challenges? Either way they pose a struggle.  A test is this quote from Paul Krugman:

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year-old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course involves orcs.”

I read this quotation many times in recent days. Got its meaning and filed it away for future use, but then this morning its actual meaning popped to awareness. Startling. I had it backwards. I read it wrong.

And now it makes perfect sense. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged novel was published in 1957 as her last major literary effort. She pushed forward her philosophy of objectivism and conservative utopianism as an abject refutation of central government power. Unfortunately she lost her humanity in the effort but has kept intellectual political pundits alive for decades now. Too bad.

Ayn Rand created a childish fantasy which became adopted by adults thus creating the unbelievable heroes. Self centered to the point of actually creating an era of ‘Me-ism’, the war between liberals, conservatives and moderates was redefined and truly re-engaged.

That has led us to our current gridlocked Congress where pride is taken in defying authority and stopping all action or progress. Utterly. With a smug smile on the face and a cocktail party held to honor it. Tragic.

Of course the Lord of the Rings is a childish fantasy created to teach the young and the young at heart that right and wrong are always present and always vying for victory. But in the end right will vanquish wrong and evil if we work at it, and work together. What could be a better ideal for America than that? Cooperation and collaboration for the good of all mankind, not just one nation or a select few.

After all what Ayn Rand failed to realize was the simple reality of labor and its ingredient to success. Capital realizes no profit if labor is absent from the equation of production. And labor to be fruitful must be fairly paid for it to support a life worth living in the first place. And the consumers who feed the pockets of the owners of capital!

That argument is not a philosophical argument pitting communism and capitalism to its age old struggle. It is merely facing the reality that the capitalist model works best when it is looking out for both the owners of capital and the holders of labor. The system then works. Governance is still a function required to keep the social order working well and its costs must be paid. Taxes are therefore needed and not a forcible taking of one’s wealth. They are a responsibility of us all; fairly levied, fairly paid; for a just and fair society.

Having said all of that, we need to cozy up to problem solving. We have much to do.  Albert Einstein reminds us, however:

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

That is a good reminder! We created these problems one way or another. We all share that reality and we must share the solution process as well. But new ideas will be needed to accomplish that goal.

On the world stage we might also do well to remember this anonymous quotation found on the internet:

“Before we were Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs…we were human. The funny thing is that we still are; we have just forgotten it.”

And we have allowed all of that forgetting to get in our way to solving international problems. Especially terrorism and getting along with others with different backgrounds than ours. We are just different, not enemies. We are still humans with the same needs and feelings among us all.

That’s the international arena, for our American playground of ideas perhaps Rachel Maddow’s caution would be good to follow:

“Let’s argue. Let’s have the great American debate about the role of government and the best policies for the country. It’s fun. It’s activism. It makes the country better when we have those debates. And your country needs you. It needs all of us. But two things disqualify you from this process: You can’t threaten to shoot people and you have to stop making stuff up.”

That would give us a great place to start from. Facts and lack of threat. Just discussion of what’s wrong, where do we want to wind up 10 years from now as a nation, and how do we get there. No blame ascribed for what is now wrong. No assumption of facts not in evidence. Just logic and mutual consideration.

We might actually learn to like each other and have respect for our differences.

We have a lot to gain from this adult behavior. Let’s give it a try.

June 19, 2013