> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[snip]
> Wealth and power are not necessarily signs of virtue - but
> virtuous behavior, we have seen, produces them.
Jesus, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Oscar
Romero... there is a long list of virtuous people who did not receive
material wealth as a consequence. Arguing that virtuous behavior produces
material wealth and power is ridiculous, to be blunt. Some virtuous people
have been wealthy; many materially impoverished people have been virtuous.
The only cause and effect between material wealth and virtue taught by the
collected wisdom of the ages is that wealth can become an obstacle to
virtue. It is very easy, many religions warn us, to fall in love with
things and as a result, fail to love one's neighbors and God.
I'm growing very weary of the blame game. Who is to blame for poverty?
What does it matter; feed the hungry. Feed them in the long run by giving
them free food if they are starving and feed them by making structural
changes that lead them to be able to feed themselves in the future. Those
are the actions of the left hand *and* the right hand, as David Brin puts
it. We need both.
Who is to blame for anti-Americanism? What does it matter; feed the spirit
that hates. Feed the spirits of those who act in anger and hatred by
stopping them and punishing those who succeed. Feed the spirit in the long
run by bringing economic and social justice to the world. Use the right and
left hands *together*, again.
But let's stop fixating on who is to blame for problems that we all share,
which we inherited from our ancestors, which are simply part of being human.
Finding blame is a way of evading responsibility. I know, of course,
because I do it. There is a part of me that would like to blame the right
for everything that is wrong, but that's ridiculous. We need the solid
foundation of conservatism, just as we need the flexible compassion of
liberalism. What we utterly don't need is the attitude by either faction
that the world would be better off without the others -- and that everyone
must be lumped into one or the other stereotype.
Perhaps it is clearer now why I was so offended at being lumped into the
"blame America first" nonsense. The need to find blame, rather than taking
responsibility for our shared problems, is one of the great human
weaknesses.
Nick
