April 1, 2011

A Simple Idea

A beautiful statement in an online discussion, posted by someone using screen name "CBS from the West":

"We are still a very wealthy society as a whole and we can afford for some of us to sacrifice some luxuries so that others can be spared genuine hardship. It all depends on our values."

Yet our public policy and rhetoric show that this simple idea would provoke vehement disagreement from a substantial minority of Americans.  Don't oversimplify: Not all Republicans would disagree. Some Democrats would. It's simply shameful.

I think of it like this:  There are those whose first thought is "ME" and others whose first thought is "WE".  You can't have a decent society built on "ME" alone.

Lew Jacobson