Clarification on Yesterday's Post

I think yesterday a few teachers thought my post was aimed at them; it wasn't.  It was a much broader quarry toward which I cast my net.  It was society in general and the U.S. economic system in particular.

First, let me clarify that I am a firm believer in free enterprise and capitalism.  They are two different approaches that usually overlap to a significant extent and combined, they work well within a society ordered by a clear and pervasive moral standard that believes no one should be left behind.  However, no matter the clarity of general moral purpose, there are always exceptions -- those who would take advantage of the system for the accumulation of personal power and wealth above that which is needed or, even desirable.  After all, power and wealth both corrupt.

The failures of our economic system are many and they are based in the self-centeredness of individuals.  They occur when actions are justified by the thought, "I deserve," rather than an awareness of the needs of others.  When the focus is on others, all are lifted and the result is multiplicative in the positive.  When the focus is on self, one is lifted above others and the result is subtractive -- it becomes mine at the expense of yours.

The opposite view is that there are those who would ride freely on the coattails of those who do the work.  This occurs for the same reason as the above -- a self-centeredness that values leisure above the accumulation of wealth and power.  It also is subtactive in nature rather than multiplicative and acts as a brake on the productivity of others.

Ultimately the issue is the age-old one so clearly defined in the Bible.  It is a question of personal value and control.  The question is, "Who is in control?  Who knows what is best for not only my life, but the lives of others?"  The answer must be God, because to answer self places the individual above his surroundings, or the totality of creation and the concept of ego-centrism enters.

Failure of any economic system rests simply in the fact that the individual sees himself as greater than the whole.  In a humanistic view, this leads naturally to socialism which dissolves into communism for the same reasons as all other systems fail -- the accretion of power to individuals.

Devaluing people -- treating them as interchangeable parts -- is at root the cause of the disintegration of our country.  We must see life -- human life -- as something of value in order to rise above the increasingly violent struggle between political philosophies.  We must first realize that ALL have failed -- ALL have fallen short -- before we can begin to rise.

Romans 3:23 -- ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God....