Social Conscience
I had a cordial discussion with my very conservative aunt Bonnie this morning about social conscience and the free market system. My argument was most businesses and institutions in the U.S. are currently more concerned about money than providing human services. I see this lack of caring about human need not only in business, but even in the public school system. Money seems to have become more important than people.
My aunt and I came to the same conclusion. If a free market system is going to work, those who benefit from a Capitalistic system must be responsible enough to protect and serve the powerless and suffering. If such a society does not support the powerless poor then that society will not survive. Therefore, we as Americans must develop an active conscience and a willingness to share (or be required to share) resources or our way of life is in jeopardy.
Interestingly, I found a similar thought expressed on Jim Wallis’ Sojourner e-mag tonight. Check it out.
(from Mike Gerson - President Bush's ex-senior adviser and speechwriter, and author of the new book, Heroic Conservatism.)
"Traditional conservatism has a piece missing - a piece that is shaped like a conscience," he notes in his new book Heroic Conservatism. His ambition, he says, is to help "save conservatism from its worst instincts" and build "a conservatism elevated by a radical concern for human rights and dignity…”
“There are two competing belief systems in the Republican Party – Libertarianism and Catholic social teaching…The difference between these visions is considerable. Various forms of Libertarianism and anti-government conservatism share a belief that justice is defined by the imposition of impartial rules - free markets and the rule of law. If everyone is treated fairly and equally, the state has done its job. But Catholic social thought takes a large step beyond that view. While it affirms the principle of limited government - asserting the existence of a world of families, congregations and community institutions where government should rarely tread - it also asserts that the justice of society is measured by its treatment of the helpless and poor. And this creates a positive obligation to order society in a way that protects and benefits the powerless and suffering.”
In an interview with the BBC, Robert Redford shared another interesting perspective when he discussed his movie “Lions led by Lambs”.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/248.0/popup/index.php?cl=4809838
My aunt and I came to the same conclusion. If a free market system is going to work, those who benefit from a Capitalistic system must be responsible enough to protect and serve the powerless and suffering. If such a society does not support the powerless poor then that society will not survive. Therefore, we as Americans must develop an active conscience and a willingness to share (or be required to share) resources or our way of life is in jeopardy.
Interestingly, I found a similar thought expressed on Jim Wallis’ Sojourner e-mag tonight. Check it out.
(from Mike Gerson - President Bush's ex-senior adviser and speechwriter, and author of the new book, Heroic Conservatism.)
"Traditional conservatism has a piece missing - a piece that is shaped like a conscience," he notes in his new book Heroic Conservatism. His ambition, he says, is to help "save conservatism from its worst instincts" and build "a conservatism elevated by a radical concern for human rights and dignity…”
“There are two competing belief systems in the Republican Party – Libertarianism and Catholic social teaching…The difference between these visions is considerable. Various forms of Libertarianism and anti-government conservatism share a belief that justice is defined by the imposition of impartial rules - free markets and the rule of law. If everyone is treated fairly and equally, the state has done its job. But Catholic social thought takes a large step beyond that view. While it affirms the principle of limited government - asserting the existence of a world of families, congregations and community institutions where government should rarely tread - it also asserts that the justice of society is measured by its treatment of the helpless and poor. And this creates a positive obligation to order society in a way that protects and benefits the powerless and suffering.”
In an interview with the BBC, Robert Redford shared another interesting perspective when he discussed his movie “Lions led by Lambs”.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/248.0/popup/index.php?cl=4809838
posted by Michelle Coder | 9:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home