Sustainability and Political Philosophy
Every couple of weeks there is something in The Writer’s Almanac that seems particularly relevant to the issues we discuss here at 2GreenEnergy. Perhaps it’s the anniversary of a scientific discovery that changed the way we understand energy, or the first publication of a book that shaped our viewpoints on justice, or the birthday of a leader who transformed our civilization.
Here’s a quick story that Garrison Keillor, the publication’s creator, told in passing a few decades ago on his radio show. He seldom mentions himself or his private thoughts, and this was a rare exception. He said (and I paraphrase):
My broad political viewpoints were formed when I was a little boy at a birthday party and my friend’s mother brought out a tray of cookies for us. It was obvious to me that they were meant for everyone to share, and that it wouldn’t have been right for me to pull my pocket open wide and scrape as many as I could into it.
He immediately went on to something else, leaving the audience almost no time to figure out why he had just said that, but it was quite clear: some people think it’s fair—in fact, that it’s good—that the world’s most powerful people appropriate the vast majority of the financial and natural resources, and leave the crumbs for everyone else to fight over. Yet they have no more moral right to do this than young Keillor would have had in hogging the cookies.
This has always been the central issue in our society, i.e., the balancing of our respective rights. There will always be smarter, faster and stronger people who have the capabilities to grab more than anyone else, and then defend it with a legal/regulatory system that they themselves influence. While no one denies that talented and industrious people should prosper, we need to ask the question: How much is too much?
I don’t have the answer, but I do have an observation: now we’re playing for keeps. A century ago the victims of the robber barons and their illegal business tactics were limited to a few wildcatters in the Texas oil fields who were driven into bankruptcy, and maybe a few would-be labor organizers with busted heads. Now the consequences are the end of Earth’s ability to support life as we know it. And once it’s gone, it won’t be coming back for another 100 million years or so.
There is no lack of Energy in the Universe! All there is in the Universe is Energy and Information! Everything is Energy in different forms! Energy cannot be created or destroyed only its form can be changed! What may seem like the Earths inability to support life as we know it, is in reality Energy Transforming itself! Human Beings are only using about 10% of our abilities. It is not who we think we are that holds us back it’s who we think we are not. In reality we are Physical Extensions of None Physical Source Energy on the leading edge of this Time Space Reality Universe we live in. Who we really are cannot die only our form is changing. Our knowledge of Universal Laws is expanding! We will live more Harmonious lives the timing is up to us and our ability to except and allow the reality of who we really are to come forth.
I believe this speaks to the social construct of fairness, instilling that allowing an equal bite at the apple, or cookie plate rather, is justified by the relative equal status of the participants. Certainly there may be other situations where the generally accepted allotment becomes unequal. For example, if the president dropped in to the party would not be thought impolite for taking two cookies, except for billy who may have been shorted.
In business dealings, the spoils are generally distributed proportionally to the value provided. Key players get a larger share and that seems fair, which is a brilliant incentive of capitalism, but it is of course capitalism that, unchecked, causes massive disparities.
If mr president never sees the sour look on billy’s face, we lose the feedback loop that originally formed mr keillor’s world view through social pressures.
Im reminded of the movie Barbarians at the gate. The moral of that story is that some greed, or entitlement, is allowable in every climate, but it should pass a court of public opinion for anyone to sleep well at night.
Hi Craig,
I do appreciate your writings, specially for my learning more very good written English.
On the limits for how much capital is to be higher as to work, a good reference is the Picketty´s The Capital in the 21 Century, where he concludes capital can only be restrained by government laws to redistribute rents through taxes…
As to the life-supporting limits of the planet, I feel ours and our children and grandchildren should manage to adapt themselves to tougher times, and the next generations after these should prosper from high tech and clean energy forms, be they either traditional as solar, wind, biomass, or for now still exotic as nuclear fusion (hot and cold… who knows for sure), and also zero-point energy sources (that one behind the spacetime tissue, for which the first law of thermodynamics breaks).
Best,
Vicente Fachina.
It seems to me that since we, by and large, have chosen a capitalist way of resource and economic regulation, that we have also had a progressive income taxing system which kept certain parties from “taking all the cookies” without paying a larger percentage of the spoils of income. It seems, also, that we have allowed certain parties to affect undue influence, without checks that were built into the government and taxing codes, and thereby not balance their excessive “taking” with excessive support of the system that has profited them.. It is obvious to me that those that leverage larger portions of the commons and the work forces have the obligation to repay a larger % to the support and regulation of same. How is this NOT a reasonable way, as thew founders of the USA determined, to regulate the economy. How did the changing of these fundamental laws become appealing and HOW DID THE USA BECOME SO EASILY DUPED AND CHEATED?
If the baker pays for the ingredients, develops the recipe, and bakes the cookies in an oven that he bought, I have no problem with him keeping most of the cookies. He will probably even create a few jobs to help him get the cookies baked. Now suppose we learn that his cookies are poisoned and slowly killing us, then the question becomes, “Do we force the baker out of business, or rely on customers’ wisdom to gradually start buying healthier cookies elsewhere?”
This analogy ignores externalities (the effect of others’ behavior on me–i.e. greenhouse gases, etc). But a similar question applies: “What is more important: life/security/health or freedom?” And the related question: What is the purpose of life? to simply remain alive at any cost (even by force), or to develop our capacity to learn, love, collaborate, and solve problems by exercising freedom of choice wisely, all while experiencing the consequences of our choices, including illness, suffering, and even death?
Craig, your post prompted me to write one today as well. It is titled “Leadership Impact” and can be found at http://www.artofleadershipimpact.com/Leadership_Impact.html. We do not understand the concept of ‘enoughness.’ There are older cultures that do, but we are still drunk on our own power and greed, so ‘enoughness’ appears to be something for wimps instead of the wisdom that will allow us to stay on a healthy, vibrant and beautiful planet.
Good point on the concept of “enoughness.” Taking more than one needs is regarded as a form of insanity called “wetico” among certain Native American tribes.
I wish it were in my power to get everyone to see the documentary “I Am.” http://www.iamthedoc.com/
I am a Canadian living in New Zealand; I like Obama and Al Gore gives me hope for the future but in general terms, U.S. excess is thoroughly disgusting and has to be corrected
soon.
Where you write: “U.S. excess is thoroughly disgusting,” I’m sure I’ll agree with whatever you’re about to say, but can you be more specific? Moreover, how do you propose we correct it?
We could make it illegal for private money, and corporate money to buy political favors, Koch brothers about to buy the White House for only 896 Million dollars, about 1% of their net worth! if private money and corporate money was kept out, a fair system would survive, our constitution ie set up to be fair, but money ,greed, and fear, have squeezed it out.
Although he may not have realized it, and he does not admit it, the reason Mr Keillor did not grab all of the cookies is because he felt guilty because he did not EARN the cookies. Someone else’s labor produced the cookies.
I have to assume that this is a joke, and a fairly clever one at that.
??
You’re saying that it might occur to a little boy (or even to Ayn Rand when she was a little girl) that he really doesn’t have a right to cookies at a birthday party because he/she didn’t earn them? Or are you saying that one cookie should not cause remorse on this basis, but that more than one should? In any case, that’s strange, to put it kindly.
Even in the incredibly unlikely event that a kid were to have that thought:
He would be aware that he really doesn’t earn anything at all at that point in his young life; that his parents do the earning, and that his job, if he has one, is to be kind, to do well in school, etc.
He would know that cookies, once they are bought from the baker, are no longer the property of the baker, and that all obligation to the baker was removed at that point. A deal was made between two parties in which the cookies were exchanged for money, and thus he should not feel guilty about consuming what was once the property of the baker. The cookies have been purchased fairly and given to him as a gift, and the expectation is that he will take one if he wants one, but that he will not hog them such that other guests will be deprived. In the course of our lives, we as honest and clear-thinking people both give and receive gifts.
He would also realize that birthday parties work on a reciprocity where today’s host will become a guest at some later time.
That’s why I thought you were kidding.
No of course not, I was speaking of the mature Mr. Keillor’s recollection of the event as a supposed adult.
Sorry I brought it up…
So is greed and being greedy a result of bad parenting? or just a bad choice?
Hi Folks,
On energy, there is the first law: energy can be converted from one form to another only. That implies the energy content of the spacetime is constant. For us poor human beings, not a single watt of fresh energy has never been added…
On the other hand, there´s been signs the first law does not hold beyond the spacetime fabric. I guess infinite energy can be harnessed with proper science and technology within this century.
http://youtu.be/eNU3MLqyzPk