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[LWolf]

The civilizational divide

Why do we work? What is the purpose of industry and commerce? Do other peoples have rights that stronger nations are bound to respect? Only Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton appear prepared to take part in the evolving global discussion on the central issues facing humanity, Americans included. Other nations have begun fashioning answers to these questions, to the moral, material and physical betterment of their inhabitants. They are reaping the benefits of a long and sometimes bloody debate over humans’ obligations to one another, and the proper uses of wealth and power.

In the U.S., Sharpton and Kucinich must shout to even broach these subjects. Kucinich is labeled a kook when he argues for “health care for people, not for profit” – although this is the premise on which all the other wealthy societies begin their discussions of health matters. Rev. Sharpton’s platform calls for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing quality health care as a right, and seeks universal, single-payer coverage in the interim. “I would rather have no bill and fight for something real,” he told the Pace University crowd.

The mind-shrinking corporate media snicker and sneer, focusing instead on the other candidates’ partial schemes based on the concept of “affordability” – barbaric constructions in which the lives of fellow citizens are endlessly devalued. (Candidate Carol Moseley-Braun favors single-payer national health care, but reveals her barbaric side in other matters – casting doubt on the moral grounding of all her positions, as we will explain, below.)

The “top tier” is oblivious to the obscenity of their Social Security retirement age debate. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean is in trouble for having once suggested that the age be raised to 70, to ensure the continued “solvency” of the system. However, Dean’s sin is worse than the rest of the media-favored pack only in degree – they all discuss Social Security retirement in insurance company actuarial terms, morbid calculations that fail entirely to address the basic questions: why are people expected to work hard for much of their lives, and what is the value of life after one’s time in the workforce is over? These are the logical, natural and civilized questions with which societies grapple once there is enough wealth to provide acceptable standards of food, clothing, education and shelter for all. It is at this point that human populations can envision the larger possibilities of existence, as individuals, as nations, and as a species.


The evolution of civility; apparently, to be considered "top tier" in the United States, you have to be less "evolved." Is this what people mean when they keep telling me that America is "sadly, not ready" for Dennis Kucinich? I say...why not? Why can't we evolve?