Proverbially Blinded by Greed

I am sympathetic toward the following “GOP New Preamble” published on ashevilleprogressive.com:

The GOP new preamble: We the corporations of the United States, in order to form a more profitable union, rig the justice system, ensure Wall Street tranquility, provide for our executives, promote the corporate welfare, and secure the blessings of owning both parties and the three branches of government, forever do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Of course, that only addresses half the problem. A more generalized view of what I see corrupting this country is based on the neural wiring that causes people to like you when you give them stuff, and hate you when you take it away. That, in and of itself, is not a problem. It is the expectation of compensation for nothing. The above preamble addresses how the wealthy use government to get you to give them stuff. But the poor also use government to get you to give them stuff.

Then, politicians and economists want to pretend that passing paper around somehow creates wealth. If you give one group lots of paper, they will give you lots of votes. Unfortunately, nothing has been done to enhance production to foster a healthy standard of living. The simple solution is that people need to start putting good ideas to work in making stuff. Unfortunately, just about everybody is afraid to go into business anymore because there is the perception that there are so many regulations, one must hire a lawyer to keep out of jail in the process.

I anticipate no shortage of headlines in the near future about crony capitalists and their poor, nonprofit counterparts. C.S. Lewis may have beaten me to the punch, but I believe “irrational” and “evil”* are synonymous. The alcoholic who has been cured by debate is certainly in the minority.

*Yeah, yeah. I know. Evil people want to tell you there is no evil. You can’t argue with that.

Global Consensus Trumps Constitution

Cecil Bothwell, who is running for Congress in the 11th District, disagrees with me and other right-wingers about Constitutional proscription of powers. In a recent blog, he stated:

In actuality, however, the law requires the government, in particular the President and the Federal Reserve, to create jobs. This legal duty comes from three sources: (1) full employment legislation including the Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978, (2) the 1977 Federal Reserve Act, and (3) the global consensus based on customary international law that all people have a right to a job with favorable remuneration to provide an adequate standard of living.

To honor McCain-Feingold, I am not aware of anybody else running for that seat who made a similar comment.

Hurricane Dwarfs Politics

Perhaps hurricanes have a way of putting politics in perspective. There is very little alleged mischief or apparent absurdity in the regional news today. As an added indication of the dearth of stories, the Asheville Daily Planet published one this month about a girl in the paranormal business receiving a mysterious gift of lingerie. I won’t even bother with a link.