Before I investigate the question that is the title of this blog I would like to set the stage properly. This weekend my husband and I experienced a noticeable shift in our psyches. The kind of shift that moves you to become a different person overnight. I could call it an epiphany, but it's more than that. I not only came to a few new realizations about my role in this world, but I also acted upon those realizations. This blog is one of those actions so I want to set it up properly.
I recently realized why I have not been motivated to keep up with entries in my blog. Unlike my closest friends who use their blogs to showcase their travels and their wonderful talents as bakers, seamstresses, scrapbookers and overall artists I do not possess any of these blog-worthy qualities. When I first began the blog I imagined it would be my online diary that I shared with others. That seemed like a good idea, but in reality it felt forced. Why should anyone care what I have to say and what I'm thinking? What good does it do anyone to read my thoughts, feelings, reactions, etc? My friends and family take interest because they care about me and are wonderfully supportive of my every thing I do, but my hope is that with their help I can write about topics with real substance and potentially impact people outside my immediate circle of friends. I stick by my initial claims that I do not have all the answers. I know this to be true and I don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm pushing my beliefs on others. The situation is quite the opposite. I am in fact aiming to help others formulate their own beliefs and opinions, not by blindly listening to any of the mainstream media moguls that currently hold our social consciousness hostage, but by actively listening to others and researching on their own. I aim to do that in the simplest way I could come up with, and perhaps the most classic: through questioning and debate.
I renamed my blog today in the attempt to capture my shift in consciousness. Socrates is to this day an infamous philosophical personality. For those of you who do not know much about him take a day or two to read the book Socrates by Anthony Gottlieb. It is from a series of books entitled The Great Philosophers, and Gottlieb's brief account of Socrates is thorough and easy to read. From there I have no doubt that you will want to actually read Plato's dialogues, in which Socrates is the main character and his methods are laid out more thoroughly. I read it yesterday to brush up on my knowledge of Socrates after watching the Michael Moore film Capitalism: A Love Story. What could Michael Moore and Socrates possibly have in common? That's a great question, and three days ago I would have said absolutely nothing, but that was because I'd never bothered to ever actually watch a Michael Moore film. His reputation as an extremist, left-wing asshole and warnings that his films focused on over-the-top conspiracy theories and right-wing bashing kept me away for a very long time (I tend to avoid the extremes, on BOTH ends of the spectrum). It wasn't until my husband, Erich, and I were once again talking about the need for real change in this country that we decided to finally give him a shot. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie we had paused to consider and discuss the points presented to us for about 30 minutes. This trend continued throughout the entirety of the film. Watch, stop, discuss, repeat...Until the movie was over and we felt as if we were being called into action.
Moore didn't shove anything down my throat, he simply had made a movie that came to the same conclusions I had already come to on my own. He did help me de-mystify some of the more complex aspects of American economics and politics. I can say that thanks to his movie I now actually understand what the 2008 housing collapse and subsequent bank bailout actually meant for our country. Whether Moore is right about everything he presents in his films is beside the point for me and Erich. What he got us to do is THINK. He woke me up in much the same way Socrates woke up the citizens of Athens. What makes his documentaries so important is that he takes the time to really talk to people, to ask them what they think is happening and what they think ought to be happening. This is why I am comparing him to a modern day Socrates and this is why I think his message is so important. The people need to reclaim their thoughts and their voting power. How many of us admittedly waste our votes? How many of us feel impotent in matters of government? THIS IS NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE. Our country was designed to give us all a voice. If we don't like what our representatives are doing then we need to get them the hell out of there and replace them with people who truly have our interests at heart.
So what would Socrates do? I phrase the question this way because he stood up for virtue when no one else would. He urged people to take a moment now and then to consider the things that truly matter. He did not begrudge anyone their material comforts or their wealthy lifestyles, in much the same way that I do not condemn my fellow Americans for taking pleasure in their leisure time or watching Jersey Shore. This is America, land of the free. If you want to watch shitty television, buy things you can't afford and eat way too much food then so be it! BUT...there is a danger lurking in the kind of indulgence we glorify on television, the kind of danger that doesn't fully present itself until it's too late. In our constant quest for material possessions, power and money we have allowed greed and selfishness to become the norm. We have allowed the misguided belief that the poor are poor because they are lazy and the rich are rich because they work hard to become a driving factor in our decision making as a society.
I am going to stop there for now and leave you with something to consider. Below is a link to a video of President FDR. In it he proposes a second bill of rights that he calls the Worker's Bill of Rights or the Economic Bill of Rights. Up until Moore's documentary this piece of history was conveniently kept from my view. No school teacher ever even mentioned it. I never even came across it in my studies as a college student. I am curious as to know how many Americans are aware that a piece of legislation such as this ever existed. If you knew of it before now please comment and explain when and where you heard of it. Likewise, if you are as outraged as I was that you have never heard of it until now please comment as well.
As you watch this video try to imagine an America where these laws are passed. Think about the positive consequences of such legislation. Give me feedback. What are the pros and cons of trying to bring this document back into the limelight? I'm reaching out because I am unhappy. I'm unhappy with how we treat each other, with how our country is viewed by the world, and with our value system that is no longer focused on virtues but on money and power. But mostly I'm reaching out because I can't change things by myself. I need your help. Together we can do better!
The first time I heard about the second bill of rights was I think reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" the second time was during a history class at U of P called Modern American History. It blew me away that those ideas were as old as they were in America. I am fuzzy on the exact year that this speech was made but you have to bear in mind that it was before the RED SCARE. Towards the end of WWII was the first time we as a country realized the power of the USSR especially since we were the only two major powers whose infrastructures hadn’t been totally annihilated. These ideas that FDR is expressing as inalienable rights became associated with socialism (which wasn’t considered a bad thing by the public until the end of WWII). FDR thought everyone had a right to a job/food/place to live/healthcare unfortunately he was not physically well enough to put up the necessary fight to get such a bill through congress. Presidents have been predicting the future for a long time. Eisenhower warned against giving to much power to the military-industrial complex. Carter warned against over-consumption and waste while trying to fund solar power a an alternative to fossil fuels 30 years ago (if you didn’t watch Jimmy Carter’s speech as part of the extra’s you should). The people who have gotten rich due to what has become the status quo unfortunately have the resources necessary to keep getting more wealthy at the expense of the people. People in the United States don’t have each other’s backs when it comes to furthering peoples causes anymore. If there’s a bus driver strike only bus drivers are picketing and marching. Same with garbage haulers or nurses etc etc. The political alliances that existed between various groups and unions seem to have dissolved as the unions are in retreat mode being attacked every legislative session. The reason these alliances(not actual written alliances but more the showing of solidarity with other groups) were so important is that it forced whichever governing body that was being petitioned to pay more attention and respond to people who may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteLets say I have a fictional landscapers union and I work for the city of Portland cleaning up the parks. Well the city is trying to screw me on how I make overtime and health benefits so I go on strike. They basically can take as long as they want negotiating with me (all the while I’m not getting paid my probably already low wages) because as a governmental unit unmowed grass and leaves is not going to slow down their machine. If other unions, however, were to take up my cause like say the garbage service union the city will notice when their garbage is still sitting in the street after a few weeks. The longshoreman, where are all the new goods like cars or raw materials our city needs to function? They’re not here because the longshoremen are on strike. Same can be applied to truck drivers. These unions stepping in to help mine doesn’t not go unrewarded next time they need more man power at a picket or a march etc. Look up the history of a union that once existed called the IWW. It was one of the first unions that you did not have to be certifiably good at anything to join. Previous to this there were unions for trades that you had to be skilled at to join but nothing for the street sweeper/day laborer. It is a good example of an umbrella union that would demand more swift fair and just action on the part of the government or business being petitioned for a change. It is the kind of thing I think we are missing and thus letting ourselves be taken advantage of. We get forced into complacency politically and economically but trying to keep up with daily life and social norms. We do love our freedom but how free are we to pursue happiness if huge companies have our wallet by the balls or tits I guess to be gender inclusive. You have to do what they say whether you’re buying from them or selling for them because if you don’t they’ll fire you/ make their product unavailable and you’re screwed especially if what you’re trying to buy is something you really need to get along like a computer or a car. If you step out of line and get fired then you lose your income obviously but also your health care in a lot of cases. They get you to do more for less especially now b/c there are people waiting in line for you job. That is why capitalism needs a 4-5% unemployment rate to function properly there has to be a mystical figure there ready to take your job in order to get you to take a pay cut and work longer hours. If FDR’s bill of rights was enforced everyone would have a job of at least some kind which means that mystical figure would be a lot less scary because it already has a job elsewhere and isn’t as desperate and the huge company needs it to be for their game to work. Also if FDR’s healthcare proposal was enforced you wouldn’t have to stay in a shitty job and get overworked and underpaid so you could keep you benefits. You could tell your huge company to suck it as soon as they started fucking with you (which means they would probably be less likely to fuck with you at all).
ReplyDeleteThe other issue that allows ideas like the ones expressed by FDR to not come to fruition is the overall attitude of American’s. When people take advantage of our social welfare/tax benefit programs they are not held accountable by their peers. Instead of a “you’re screwing the rest of us who are trying to do this by the book” attitude they get a “how can I get the same shit/services for free like that guy did I want to cheat the system too”. That attitude makes me sick and is really fucking us in the ass. If more people paid the taxes they were supposed to or only asked for help when they really needed it instead of every time they got a case of the fat-n-lazies our system would run much smoother. Of course that’s not going to happen anytime soon due to the fact that it’s not only socially acceptable to try to screw the system its encouraged. “I got out of paying my taxes this year b/c I found to bullshit loophole” is met with “Awesome! Show me how to do that!” Instead of “You’re a dick who is making it harder to pay our teachers, soldiers, police officers and librarians quit being an asshole.” The hardest part is knowing where to start but it begins with yourself. Don’t be a dick and try to get out of all your civic duties you are reaping the benefits of others performing theirs. This, me first/why should I have to do that/Someone else will come along and pick up my slack they always have, shit has gotta go before anything else. To quote my great grandfather via my grandfather “Its not what you say its what you do.”
ReplyDeleteKyle, I've been stewing on your response for a while now. I can say this, you've given me a very different perspective of unions than I previously had. I guess I've never had a problem with unions for skilled/unskilled laborers. In fact I guess I agree completely with every point you made and definitely about the part about getting each others' backs and not being dicks about everything. What I will say is that unions have a time and place. For example, teachers' unions, in my opinion, are doing much more harm to our education system than good. Call me callous but I don't think that teachers should have so much protection, if you're a shitty teacher you shouldn't be allowed to continue teaching. I'm sure there's much more to the issue that I'm ignorant of, but from what I've gathered by reading, watching documentaries and working in the field teachers' unions are only slowing down any progress that could be made.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rest of your comment, you were spot on when you pointed out that capitalists need that 3-5% fear factor (which is currently MUCH higher I assume)in order to make the most off of their employees while getting away with paying them unfairly. This leads me to the question what is fair? How do you put a price on an individual's worth within a company? I personally would be happy forming a co-up company in which I as the CEO make the exact same wages as a worker on my assembly line. This will make my workers easier to lead because they will see me as fair and caring. It will also encourage everyone to pull their weight because they know that everyone (including themselves and their families) would benefit. What I've never been able to understand is how a CEO of even a small, but successful company can justify making 10-50 times more than his or her employees. Is it that we regard leadership skills with such admiration that we are willing to approve of this gap? Or is it that we assume there is no other way of doing things?
The final thought I'd like to leave you with, Kyle is a few words of encouragement. You are a highly intelligent and well educated person. You also happen to work in a field where often times you encounter less educated (but not necessarily less intelligent) individuals. It is my hope that you discuss these views with them. I feel that part of my civic duty as a college graduate is to do what I can to help others discover their own ignorance (and in doing so I often find that they help me discover some of my own). Talk to your construction buddies about this stuff. Bring it up at bars. You are the kind of down-to-Earth person that others need to hear this stuff from. I commend you for your eloquence and principals and hope that you continue to carry out similar dialogues with me (and OTHERS!).
Love you!