Les mots du jour

The reason we have lost our way is that deregulation in banking, free trade agreements, tax policies that favor the rich leading to gross wealth imbalance have unleashed a flood of greed in this country that is both intoxicating and addicting. The war on the middle class and working people, the contempt for the poor and the idol worship of the rich have so warped the judgment of our political leaders that they enact policies without a shred of humanity, social conscience, or rationality.

We are on a self destructive roller coaster as a nation and we are unable to stop, because like other addicts our addition to greed won't let us.

The reason we regulate sex in our society by legally putting into place an age of consent for two adults to have sex is because if we deregulated sex, sexual relations between adults and children would be rampant. Minors would be even more exploited than they already are in this area. The reason is that sex is a very powerful drive which many adults would seek to satisfy is a relationship in where they are the powerful one, in other words, sex with minors. We also have regulations for consuming alcohol for that matter and all recreational drugs are illegal.

However, for some reason our leaders believe that it is desirable to deregulate greed.

The reason that banking, financial transactions, and trade need to be regulated is that the basic greed that fuels our capitalist system must be controlled or else that greed will run amok in these institutions, consume its practioners, leading to fraudulent activities and schemes, illicit practices and immoral decisions. People crazed by overwhelming and unregulated greed basically are at risk for having impaired judgement, overt predatory behavior, voracious need for wealth accumulation and power and a nihilistic value system. This is as old as the Bible,and as ancient as the creation of humanity.

Just like an addict views getting their drug in order to get high as an end in itself, so does a greed crazed banker or corporation seek wealth for wealth's sake and the power discrepancies it creates no matter what the cost or suffering to others. That is where we are at in our society. We have become the Saddam and Gomorrah of greed among the community of nations.

As a consequence our judgement is impaired, our policies flawed, and our values warped. We are on a sliding slope to destruction.

Greece and Rome were also great empires. empires from where we derived our philosophical foundation of thought and legal system. The British had a great empire. Even the Soviet Union was once a powerful and feared entity. They all fell. So will we. It is more a matter of when than if.

We have lost our way because greed has replaced equality as our main social value and the foundation of society.