What, Me Wise???

The right is about to learn there is more wisdom in two seconds of birdsong than in ten hours of Billy Graham sermons.

A useful way to look at the 20th century is to see it as a tragic teaching for the left. Noble experiments in social equality rapidly and disastrously foundered on a blind belief in the complete and infallible wisdom of certain received texts, notably those of Marx.

So utter was that failure that the reaction has now carried us more or less to the far, equally unquestioning right.

China, most sadly, under a hollow shell of economic equality, now practices the most rabid sort of unbridled capitalism.

America, under an increasingly fragile shell of the rule of law not men, is controlled by those who nightly review the gospel according to Adam Smith, mix the "wisdom" they glean therefrom with daily reviews of the gospel according to Matthew-Mark-Luke-and-John and-especially-Paul, and then pontificate with the blind certitude that we used to hear from the secular pulpits of Moscow and Beijing.

The left, for all its long, well-intentioned outreach to the poor and the oppressed, was thoroughly humbled by the disasters of the 20th century. Hence their troubled silence interrupted by occasional semi-articulate grumbling. Hope has been lost.

Both capitalism and Marxism contain some wisdom. Both power and greed, when unfettered, ride roughshod and uncaring over any wisdom that stands in their endlessly acquisitive way.
    Marxism sought to control greed (but dealt inadequately with the
       problems of power).
    The American constitution sought to control power (but dealt
       inadequately with the problems of greed).

The American right, still riding high on repeated tsunamis of agglutinative growth in the 1960s, the 1980s, and the 1990s, now proudly justifies itself as a huge, rising tide that lifts all boats, unaware of the massive rocks ahead.

With the Bible in one hand and Adam Smith in the other, the American right quotes alleged wisdom from both books to justify its exploitative ways.

Where is the wisdom of freedom that seeks to deprive women of control over their own bodies?
?Where is the wisdom in amending the U.S. constitution to discriminate against a minority?
Where is the wisdom in ignoring massive and growing scientific evidence about global warming and continue a policy of more pollution?
Where is the wisdom in spending more money on the military than all other countries combined?
Where is the wisdom in spending more money on prisons than all other countries combined?
Where is the wisdom of a tax structure that has put 60% of the wealth in the hands of 1% of the people?
Where is the wisdom in a government that lies to justify war?
Where is the wisdom in a government that perverts language to promote its policies (calling legislation that increases pollution a "clean air" act, legislation that shrinks the Bill of Rights a "patriot" act, etc.)?
Where is the wisdom in drilling for oil in the most pristine natural places (the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, Padre Island National Seashore, etc.)?

The leaders of the right who are doing all this, remember, pull out Adam Smith and respond with quotations that they, being alien to critical thought, perceive as "wise":

"The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations."
"I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."
"The rich ... divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal proportions among all its inhabitants."
"Great nations are never impoverished by private, though they sometimes are by public, prodigality and misconduct."

If, as a certain problematic observer allegedly remarked 2,000 years ago, "the poor we shall always have with us," does that also imply, mes amis, that the rich we shall also always have with us?

If yes, then what?

Wealth is not wholly alien to the good, the true, and the beautiful. However many grievous wounds its weapons have left in the world, its patronage has left much of lasting, nurturing value. Without wealth behind them, Ictinus would’ve had no Parthenon to design, Michelangelo no Sistine Chapel, Bach no Brandenburg concertos. Et cetera.

The problem is not wealth per se but wealth unbridled.

The greedy we shall always have with us.

Unbridled, they can, singly, do much mischief (Enron, World Com, etc.).

In an age of near-complete unbridlement they can do not only mischief but great damage to the fragile foundation on which a social contract rests.