Cheating

Chinese Beach: Orderly Crowding, The Future.

The much-maligned Protestant Ethic, which was refined by socially responsive Wesleyan Methodism in the 19th Century, guided early American capitalism away from selfish opportunism and toward a socially equitable social model. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay. Goods priced fairly in proportion to cost. Value set by practical worth. This is far from the Prosperity Gospel of today's born-again hucksters, parlaying on-line ministry licenses into mega-churches with mega-profits.

 

No more. The current Free Market capitalism, touted by rabid Tea Party tax evaders, is based in opportunism and social irresponsibility. The gods of this capitalism, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, were both opportunists to the core. Young Thatcher learned how to cheat people by whipping ice cream with air (soft-serve) and thereby selling less for more. Reagan turned his coat from union leader to union-buster in response to McCarthyism. It was good for his personal career.

 

I have worked within capitalism on many levels. I have been a manager in heath care facilities. I have had two small businesses. I have bought and sold real estate. My experience taught me that no person who works ethically in capitalism immediately accumulates great wealth. The operative word in that sentence is "ethically".

 

Capitalism of today works on the "anything goes" model. Rants against government are basically rants against regulation and taxation, the two government processes that guarantee civilization in any society. The capitalists of today in collusion with paid-off government officials have cheated the general public out of mental health facilities, for example. The deranged and chronically addicted roam our streets, break into our homes, shoot each other in ritualized gang warfare, shoot children in elementary schools, place bombs on public streets. Capitalism has cheated us of true homeland security.

 

The concentration of wealth in a tiny segment of the U.S. population is cheating. That cadre owns state houses and the nation's capital. Lobbying is cheating. It represents the interests of the wealthy over the interests of the society. Street people do not have lobbyists in Washington, yet they are those in the greatest need of advocacy for themselves and for the general benefit of society.

 

Wealthy cheaters, the Donald Trumps, are shameless. They are emboldened by the hypnotized stupor of a media-driven population. They make sure they are in households by constantly appearing on television or the Web. They are the grinning sociopaths who have always charmed their victims while picking their pockets. Nothing new there.

 

Not cheating gets harder and harder in an overpopulated and undereducated  society which is corrupted by greed and money. Some South American cities afford ample examples of this. Paying a policeman to drive down your own street can become commonplace, for example.

 

I reject the notion that a person can be a humanist and a cheater in this new "game" of greed-driven capitalism, just as I rejected the notion that a true Christian can reject a person purely on the basis of their natural sexuality or gender. Some may disagree. Some may see Humanism, with a capital "H", as just another way to make money and gain celebrity. They may see their work as creating some inevitable collateral good. Good is indeed inevitable, even in concentration camps, but this is not humanism in action. Humanism in practice, as I see it, lies in each individual humanist being good and ethical in all aspects of life. This requires sacrifice, responsibility, compassion and mindful consideration of each action in life, whether it is business or personal.