Glen -
I'm not sure I have a conclusive position on this topic. But I do
(surprise) have a few observations.
I agree that "commerce" (especially in it's larger sense, embracing
community and barter and things other than "bucks") can be a valuable
ingredient in stable society...
What I personally am most worried about is the implications of the
(true, but maybe unfortunate?) statement "to make a buck is a
compression of ...". I believe that our reduction of the value of
*everything* to currency is a lossy compression, and that what is lost
may not be missed until it is too late.
My touchstone for this is the difference between "a buck" as an "I Owe
You" vs a "You Owe Me". I believe that currency started as a
normalized form of "I Owe You's" but that somewhere soon after the
formation of that device, it became conflated with "You Owe Me's". This
is a subtle but crucial difference.
Whenever I might purchase something (good or service), I don't presume
that I have a *right* to that good or service simply because I have the
price of it in my wallet. I take the signs in many establishments as
sacred: "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone". This might
be a thinly veiled reference to the racial/cultural prejudices of
yesterday, or to the individualist shop owner's assertion of their right
to not have to deal with jerks... but it is a reminder to ME that any
transaction is *more* than the exchange of $$ value.
I think this observation supports your point. When you buy or sell
something from/to someone, you also exchange something else much less
tangible... it can be a building of trust... of understanding even
perhaps? In this model, $$ are the needle pulling very ephemeral
threads which ultimately weave a fine and strong fabric of community.
Or so I like to think.
- Steve
ERIC P. CHARLES wrote at 09/27/2012 09:56 AM:
*The extra adjective is there because this is irrelevant to the financially
liberal position.
I'm not so sure that it is irrelevant. I tend to view the merchant, who
just wants to do business and doesn't care about your other social
positions, as the very foundation of social liberalism. The best way to
maintain a speaking relationship with someone you otherwise might hate
is to continue doing business with them. That "bottom line" is very
similar to the realists' ultimate Truth and provides a horizon for a
continual moral compass.
Ultimately, the ability to "make a buck" is a compression of all the
other things that keep us alive ... food, shelter, procreation, etc.
When doctrinal delusions like promises of 72 virgins, our own planets,
or Star Trek social equality interfere with our ability to "make a buck"
... well _that's_ when all hell breaks loose and we riot in the streets.
Financial liberalism is the _trunk_ and social liberalism is the leaves.
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