What amazes me about it all is that it was such a small number of young idealists who pushed through seemingly insurmountable obstacles and created a republic and a free market. It took hope, belief, courage, and teamwork. And it changed the course of world history.
What is that saying I see so often by Margaret Mead? [pause while I look it up]. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
What we need now, in my humble opinion, is a small group of thoughtful citizens. Compassionate with each other and with those around us. Compassionate in our capitalism. I don't know that it will create a world revolution, but maybe it will help just one person. Or two people. Or a handful. Or a city. Maybe it will catch on.
It is also my opinion that the self-governance for which people like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson fought cannot sustain itself without self-discipline and attention to the high ideals that formed the basis for it. Otherwise, we give the government the justification to intervene to protect the many from the tyranny and overstepping of a few. Which, in turn, gives the government the opportunity to overstep. It is an endless cycle of selfish opportunism. The only way to stop that cycle is to behave in the opposite manner: to be responsible for ourselves and responsible toward others.
That's this one citizen's opinion.
1 comment:
Oh yes. And one more corollary. I think part of the problem is as much a lack of understanding of what it truly means to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining in this world. This goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility part of the discussion.
Part of the reason that we are over-regulated (and have allowed ourselves to hand over so much to the government) is the lack of understanding of what self-sustainability means. Most people are not business owners. So many of us are government employees or private employees. Until a person has owned a business, he or she has no real idea of the costs and the risks involved. As an employee, usually a person is subsidized by employment taxes paid by the employer and (if lucky) health insurance paid by the employer and (if luckier) retirement opportunities provided by the employer. In such a system, it seems beneficial to turn over some control in exchange for the benefits offered. But there is not the same kind of encouragement to go out on one's own and really exist without any kind of assistance.
Until we are ready to forfeit some of the comforts provided by the private and/or public subsidy system as a group, we will continue to hand over control (apparently gladly) to the government or to employers or to whomever, while the overstepping continues (both in the private and public sector). Learning to be self-sustaining teaches compassion, too. It teaches you of the struggle one has to undergo to survive. If we want the freedom, we have to accept the responsibility and risk that goes with it. No freedom comes without a cost. That is as much the lesson from the John Adams story as anything.
So: what costs are we willing to undertake? How badly do we want the freedom?
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