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Armstead

(47,803 posts)
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 12:31 PM Jun 2014

The core Moral Value that both parties basically ignore

All the yelping here that we do in all sides (me included) basically ignores one basic core Moral Value. We skirt round the edges, use euphemisms, get into side skirmishes about issues and politicians.

Underlying it is a fundamental and basic Moral Value that no one here or elsewhere really talks about in the public conversation. Both political parties ignore it in their platforms and public speeches -- or else pay lip service to it without actually doing anything about it.

And, surprise,surprise -- it shouldn't really be controversial. It shouldn't really be divisive. It's not even partisan or ideological for the most part. It is something that moderate and liberal and progressives Dems should agree on and fight for. It's even something honest conservatives and Republicans should be in favor of.

What is this mysterious secret? Simple.

We're all in this together. We all deserve opportunities to advance ourselves, but we also have the responsibility to contribute to society and support the greater good, and assist those who need help. It's a balance and a trade off between those rights and responsibilities. And power and wealth should be shared. AND THAT SHOULD INCLUDE BUSINESS AND THE WEALTHY ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE. The more you get, the more you should contribute in return. AND there are reasonable limits to the size of an institution, and how much any individuals and businesses should attain.


Period.

I know it sounds Pollyannish. Kind of tritely obvious in a way.

It's also subjective. Opens up questions of how much is enough, and stuff like that. That is where honest differences among political ideologies and debate and compromise factor in.

Simple, right? Simplistic, even. yep.

BUT the damnable thing is collectively we have FORGOTTEN that little truism.

We argue about the means to that end, such as regulation and policy but we never acknowledge its universal truth. Both parties fail to demand that kind of MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY as a basis of our political and economic and social system. We allow it to be ignored, evaded -- or glossed over by pretty talk and "social resonsibility" initiatives by big corporations and wealthy philanthropists (after they've made their billions).

Because as a society we fail to require that accountability, we have an f*****in mess in which the powerful get more powerful and abusive, the wealthy siphon more and more wealth from everyone else, Huge Corporation continue to grow to obscene and dangerous sizes, and we all chatter away about trivia while the basis of Democracy and the Public Interest is flushed down the rathole.

End of rant.








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Armstead

(47,803 posts)
3. True -- One of the distortions that hs emerged over the last 30 years
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 01:52 PM
Jun 2014

(probably forever, but it's gotten worse)

The Road Runner

(109 posts)
8. This idea has been around for centuries at least.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:30 PM
Jun 2014

This was, for example, how kings and other nobility rationalized their disproportionate wealth and power: ie. "The reason I have wealth and power is that I have lived a virtuous life and God is rewarding me. Thus it is God's will that this be so and those who challenge the existing social order are in fact defying the will of God himself."

It's a great circular argument if you can find people who will buy into it and not ask too many questions.

 

Armstead

(47,803 posts)
9. Actually goes back to ancient civilizations
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:33 PM
Jun 2014

Reincarnation, Pharaoh as God and that other crap.

It's just gussied up in modern garb these days.

The Road Runner

(109 posts)
4. It's not that this moral value is ignored...
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:01 PM
Jun 2014

...the issue is that Republicans simply do not believe in nor adhere to the value that:"We are all in this together."

Republicans believe that we are all in it for ourselves, that we are all individuals, and that being forced to care about others is an imposition on their liberty and freedom.

pampango

(24,692 posts)
6. Great rant but "We're all in this together" is classic liberal thinking. Conservatives
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:16 PM
Jun 2014

are much more comfortable with "every man for himself" and the view "Life is a zero-sum game. I win - you lose. You won - I lose". Unfortunately, these conservative attitudes have come to rule the way people, particularly large corporations and institutions, view the world.

 

Armstead

(47,803 posts)
7. There are certainly differences but....
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:27 PM
Jun 2014

in the uncorrupted, non-shithead version of conservative principles, the theory is that businesses and individuals do make a contribution through the products and services they provide and have an obligation to contribute thtouh the operation of their business in an ethical manner.

I know that sounds quaint in this era of the Kochs and Goldman Sachs and Teabaggers, but i am old enough to remember when many mainstream conservatives did sincerely think that way. My father for example, fell into that category.

(I think many still do but they're overshadowed by the butthead wingnuts and power mongers.)

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
10. FDR framed those Values well.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:47 PM
Jun 2014
In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be[font size=3] established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

[font size=3]America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.[/font] --FDR, SOTU, 1944


Please note that the above are stipulated as Basic Human RIGHTS to be protected by our government,
and NOT as COMMODITIES to be SOLD to Americans by For Profit Corporations.

There was a time when voting FOR The Democrat
was voting FOR the above Democratic Party Values.
Sadly, this is no longer true.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their promises or excuses.

 

Armstead

(47,803 posts)
11. Yep. It's a shame we've forgotten them.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:47 PM
Jun 2014

I'm old enough (62) to remember the period when those values still were at lest part of the political process -- as well as seeing the demise of them as core principles.

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)
13. Yes, we need much more than a political realignment in this country.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 02:55 PM
Jun 2014

We need a fundamental reassessment of the purpose of government in our lives.

We live and breathe sick messaging to justify the current predatory system. We need to step outside the Matrix and remember that WE form governments to serve OUR needs, that we have the power and the moral responsibility to use them to create societies that serve all of us and allow us to make the most of our short time here on earth.

K&R

frazzled

(18,402 posts)
15. Obama has said it over and over and over again
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 03:18 PM
Jun 2014

He's spoken so often on the "role of government" that he seems almost to have stopped talking about it, because no one is listening.

He addressed it early on, in 2009, in his speech to the Joint Session of Congress, pushing the stimulus:

I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-President-Barack-Obama-Address-to-Joint-Session-of-Congress


He said it in his speech on the economy at George Washington University in 2011:

From our first days as a nation, we have put our faith in free markets and free enterprise as the engine of America's wealth and prosperity. More than citizens of any other country, we are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people with a healthy skepticism of too much government.

But there's always been another thread running through our history -– a belief that we're all connected, and that there are some things we can only do together, as a nation. We believe, in the words of our first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.

And so we've built a strong military to keep us secure, and public schools and universities to educate our citizens. We've laid down railroads and highways to facilitate travel and commerce. We've supported the work of scientists and researchers whose discoveries have saved lives, unleashed repeated technological revolutions, and led to countless new jobs and entire new industries. Each of us has benefitted from these investments, and we're a more prosperous country as a result.

Part of this American belief that we're all connected also expresses itself in a conviction that each one of us deserves some basic measure of security and dignity. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff may strike any one of us. "There but for the grace of God go I," we say to ourselves. And so we contribute to programs like Medicare and Social Security, which guarantee us health care and a measure of basic income after a lifetime of hard work; unemployment insurance, which protects us against unexpected job loss; and Medicaid, which provides care for millions of seniors in nursing homes, poor children, those with disabilities. We're a better country because of these commitments. I'll go further. We would not be a great country without those commitments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/us/politics/14obama-text.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1403722801-uMxxX2Jak/bBr7K96sQgLw


He said it in a debate with Mitt Romney in 2012:

“But as Abraham Lincoln understood, there are also some things we do better together. So, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said, let's help to finance the Transcontinental Railroad, let's start the National Academy of Sciences, let's start land grant colleges, because we want to give these gateways of opportunity for all Americans, because if all Americans are getting opportunity, we're all going to be better off. That doesn't restrict people's freedom. That enhances it.

And so what I've tried to do as president is to apply those same principles.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-role-government-create-ladders-opportunity


And he perhaps went most far in his speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, speaking on inequality:

Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, there is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, let’s respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes -- especially for the wealthy -- our economy will grow stronger. Sure, they say, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else. And, they argue, even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, well, that’s the price of liberty.

Now, it’s a simple theory. And we have to admit, it’s one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government. That’s in America’s DNA. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. (Laughter.) But here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked. (Applause.) It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible postwar booms of the ‘50s and ‘60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade. (Applause.) I mean, understand, it’s not as if we haven’t tried this theory.

Remember in those years, in 2001 and 2003, Congress passed two of the most expensive tax cuts for the wealthy in history. And what did it get us? The slowest job growth in half a century. Massive deficits that have made it much harder to pay for the investments that built this country and provided the basic security that helped millions of Americans reach and stay in the middle class -- things like education and infrastructure, science and technology, Medicare and Social Security.

Remember that in those same years, thanks to some of the same folks who are now running Congress, we had weak regulation, we had little oversight, and what did it get us? Insurance companies that jacked up people’s premiums with impunity and denied care to patients who were sick, mortgage lenders that tricked families into buying homes they couldn’t afford, a financial sector where irresponsibility and lack of basic oversight nearly destroyed our entire economy.

We simply cannot return to this brand of “you’re on your own” economics if we’re serious about rebuilding the middle class in this country. (Applause.) We know that it doesn’t result in a strong economy. It results in an economy that invests too little in its people and in its future. We know it doesn’t result in a prosperity that trickles down. It results in a prosperity that’s enjoyed by fewer and fewer of our citizens.

Look at the statistics. In the last few decades, the average income of the top 1 percent has gone up by more than 250 percent to $1.2 million per year. I’m not talking about millionaires, people who have a million dollars. I’m saying people who make a million dollars every single year. For the top one hundredth of 1 percent, the average income is now $27 million per year. The typical CEO who used to earn about 30 times more than his or her worker now earns 110 times more. And yet, over the last decade the incomes of most Americans have actually fallen by about 6 percent.

Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression -- hurts us all. When middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, when people are slipping out of the middle class, it drags down the entire economy from top to bottom. America was built on the idea of broad-based prosperity, of strong consumers all across the country. That’s why a CEO like Henry Ford made it his mission to pay his workers enough so that they could buy the cars he made. It’s also why a recent study showed that countries with less inequality tend to have stronger and steadier economic growth over the long run.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/06/remarks-president-economy-osawatomie-kansas


And yes, in the first year of his presidency he presented the health care debate as “a core ethical and moral obligation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/politics/20obama.html

He's appealed to the notion of "my brother's keeper, my sister's keeper" many times.


 

Armstead

(47,803 posts)
16. I've appreciaated it when he's said that -- but he doesn't go far enough and backtracks
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 03:26 PM
Jun 2014

The problem is not just that we need more "programs."

It is a fundamental moral realignment that's required. And that means calling out those who are abusing an robbing society and pushing for us all to demand better behavior from them.

Unfortunately also supporting crap like TPP, Killing of Net Neutrality, continuing to allow Super Monopoly Mergers and appointing someone from GEto head a panel on reviving the economy, etc. are contradictory to those words.

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