I read with interest Thomas's sun god analogy, which I think is brilliant.
I would only add that perhaps our sun god is "the Marketplace" with its
"invisible hand." The work ethic is more like an archaic ritual habit in
service of this god. The habit, like all habits, formed when our northern
European culture was struggling to prosper agriculturally against
unfavourable climatic conditions. It took a lot of hard work and ingenuity,
which led to technological developments and industrial development. This
process was helped greatly by following the dictates of the Marketplace
god. And truly, those who prospered under this system, either by hard work
or ruthlessness and cunning, could point to their having been favoured by
God for their devotion.
Does this help?
David
At 06:13 PM 01/09/98 -0500, Thomas Lunde wrote:
>To all FW'ers:
>
>I will be leaving for Amsterdam in a couple of days to present a paper I
>wrote entitled "The Family Basic Income Proposal" at the BIEN Conference.
>The genesis of this paper came from a challenge by a FW participant arising
>from some comments I made in a thread called "Some Hard Questions on Basic
>Income" last February. I tried posting my rebuttal to the challenge as an
>attachment several times but for some reason the server did not put the post
>through. After several months, I privately posted it to several list
>members asking for feedback but received consideration from only one
>individual. I then became aware of BIEN, a European organization that has
>been exploring the concepts of a Basic Income in Europe and of their
>upcoming Convention in Sept. I submitted my paper and it was accepted and I
>have been invited to present it.
>
>This summer, I had the opportunity to travel across Canada for 6 weeks and
>visit friends and family. In each instance I tried to open conversations on
>the concept of a Basic Income. In each and every conversation, the idea was
>ridiculed and conversely I had trouble explaining the whole concept because
>in conversation, it is difficult to fully develop a complex idea. Out of
>the frustrations of those conversations, I feel I learned a lot. Most
>important, I learned that those I spoke to, a farmer, a small business
>owner, a lab technician, a bus driver, an artist, a housewife, a government
>employee, that each was totally indoctrinated with the concept that work was
>so important that the thought of giving all Canadians the security of a
>Basic Income was basically unthinkable to them.
>
>Out of the anger my questions and explanations my subject had generated, I
>have come to a tentative conclusion that until the "middle class", primarily
>those who work by selling their time and skills can be convinced of the need
>for a massive change in the redistribution of income, the concept of a Basic
>Income will not become a reality. I found myself sitting down and writing a
>rebuttal to this attitude which I called "A Message to the Middle Class on
>the Financing of: The Family Basic Income Proposal". It is a long essay but
>sometimes it takes some time to develop a new viewpoint. I am going to post
>this by E Mail tonight in 5 separate posts, each representing a page of the
>complete essay.
>
>Today, I was investigating for the first time our new Web Page and it was
>with some surprise, that I read about BES, a Conference held in Ottawa on
>June 3 this year to explore the concept of "Basic Economic Security" for
>Canadians. Many of the questions raised at this Conference were questions
>that I wrestled with in putting together my paper. I had to make choices
>and develop an economic explanation of how my choices could be financed.
>The choices I made are not necessarily "right", only the choices that I made
>but they are a start from which a critique or support could rally around and
>as such, I believe they have value. Because my circle of friends do not
>include "experts" and my time and financial resources are very limited,
>there may very well be glaring errors in my assumptions. If so, I will try
>to accept criticism gracefully.
>
>I plan to put my original paper on the list in E Mail format on Thursday,
>allowing for some time for response to my first paper. This message is to
>inform those who may choose not invest the time to just file or delete the
>ten or so posts that I will be sending under the Subject heading - Basic
>Income. So, let the adventure begin.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Thomas Lunde
>
