perhaps we should invert your conclusion and say the truly (financial) elite should be trained to be more compliance-oriented, everyone else can be performance - so that we no longer believe we need or want to be like the elite and thus get ourselves out of trouble
On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 4:01 AM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 9:04 AM, William Conger <[email protected] > >wrote: > > > America has come to despise the old fashioned sense of morality and > > ethics, the > > real and visible hand, when it comes to the implementation of capitalist > > economics. Now it's proper to only follow the money, care about the > money, > > ignore values that any society needs, and claim that unfettered > > self-interest is > > the only true and impartial way to manage wealth. The Founding Fathers > > valued > > Virtue as the highest good. For them it meant self-deprecation and > > service for > > the greater good: putting the other fellow's need above self-interest. > > Some > > actually tried to follow that principle and they certainly framed a > > Constitution > > that aimed at embodying it. > > > > What people need to do in my opinion is to recognize that their positions > > in > > life are not only due to their own diligence but also the structures the > > society > > has in place. Those structures favor inequality in both opportunity and > > condition. > > > > I'll venture that all the people on this list have enjoyed a much greater > > proportion of inequality of condition and opportunity than most > Americans. > > Our > > duty is to help create greater equality of opportunity for those who > don't > > yet > > have their proper share and then assure them more and more improvement in > > their > > conditions. > > > > But what about those who the better they are treated (the more > opportunities they are given), the worse they become (e.g., the more > problems they create for not only others but also for themselves, the worse > they become)? > > I've certainly met a lot of people like that. > > Something tells me that the truly elite can be performance-oriented, > but everyone else should be trained to be more compliance-oriented if only > to keep themselves out of trouble. > > -- S a u l O s t r o w *Critical Voices* 21STREETPROJECTS 162 West 21 St NYC, NY 10011 [email protected]
