1 Boring Old Man

The values I would like to see examined have to do with the meaning and limits of freedom. From the Religious Right and the Right in general, we receive a conflicting message. They want freedom to be political, to be tax-exempt, to be viewed as "good" but they are hell bent on limiting the freedom of others. They want to say what marriage is, what our population control policy should be [none], who can live in this country, and yet they want to be allowed to do what they want. "Freedom for me, but not you" is what it sounds like. The financial Right is even worse. "We want a Free Market Economy" and "Bail us out with no strings attached."

Is the Left any clearer about their values? A little clearer, I think. But the Left is perfectly capable of projecting values in the same way. Rick Warren is an anti-Homosexual, ergo, he shouldn’t speak at the Inauguration. Frankly, who cares who gives the prayer at the Inauguration? Not me. Who cares what Rick Warren thinks? Not me. So, I’m not up in arms. If I were Gay, would I care? I hope not. Any fool can see that Obama was trying to be "bi-partisan," and that he blew it. At least he didn’t pick James Dobson or Jeramiah Wright. I think "the Left" would be better placed to follow Lakoff and stick to the areas of "meet" in terms of values, rather than "differences" [and re-reading some of my posts, maybe I should work on taking my own advice].

But the financial crisis has set me to thinking about other values. Do I really put too much  value on money and the things it will bring? I wouldn’t like to think so, but this crisis and my worry about it makes me wonder. There was a "preview" financial collapse in 1907, 100 years ago. We were actually saved from ruin by J.P. Morgan and his friends – not the government. We recovered and went on to do it again in the 1920’s. When I look back at that time, the first half of the last century, I don’t see values coming from the roaring twenties. To me they come from the thirties and forties. People pulling together. The W.P.A. Projects. The C.C.C. Camps. The workers and soldiers of the 1940’s. The songs of the Woodie Guthries of the world. The great American authors that emerged during those times. The twenties – not so much. The harbingers of the Religious Right passed a Prohibition Act that basically threw Americans into a life of crime that trickled everywhere. Our values actually sank in the quicksand of being ruled by someone else’s values. The only thing that came out of that great swing Right were libertines and a Stock Market Crash of mammoth proportions [I wonder if the Temperance League and the Wall Street Speculators were in cahoots back then like they are now].

The money, money attitudes we’ve lived with at the end of the last century and in these eight years has corrupted values – human values. And I don’t think the values of the Religious Right have added anything – more the opposite. I’m thinking that values are something we share with others – not something we fight about. I’m thinking that values are something we show to others in action – not something we impose on them. More that anything, the damage the Republican Party has done in these last eight years is to make a mockery of values. They learned to "talk the talk" without "walking the walk." It is said that children learn from what their parents do, not from what they say. That seems to be true of any authority. Our preachers have preached love and practiced hate. Our Executive Branch has preached fiscal responsibility and American Democracy, but is practicing neither. And the bonuses of the Bank Executives paid from the Bailout funds are the absolute final indictment of our financiers and their values.