Paradigms

If you are following the current political melodrama about the Federal debt ceiling, you will probably concede that very little of the coverage focuses on the core principle of economic justice. It seems easier to couch the battle in terms of entitlements vs.revenue. This is masking the real issue.

The Murdochs' testimony in front of a Parliamentary Committee this week illustrates the paradigm at the heart of the struggle over budgets in the U.S.. Is the wealth of humanity to be shared justly among humanity or is the wealth of humanity to be controlled by aristocracies, determined and propagated by genetic relationships? The right to quest for aristocracy, after all, is at the heart of the Tea Party's libertarianism. It is a continuation of American pioneer philosophy: Set out in a wagon and take whatever you can keep with a gun in order to build a legacy for your genetic family.

The current social environment in the U.S is a conflicted mess of super-affluent elites, dictating let's-all-get-along pablum, and a rapidly growing underclass, spanning the spectrum of rioting unionists to desperate illegal immigrants. The vast underclass is easily divided and conquered politically. Many vote against their own interests by supporting Tea Party candidates. Their indoctrination into family-centered thinking by overwhelmingly Rightist media and Rightist religion has effectively made them socialism-phobic.

The big question is one of social paradigm. Our social paradigm is not democratic. Our social paradigm is a confused mess, distorted and manipulated by corporate wealth and power. This is reflected in the current budgetary and political environment at the Federal and state level. As a humanist, I applaud President Obama's attempts to make this core struggle evident. I am not sure many Americans are open to broadening their vision to the larger social justice issues at hand.