THE Times' David Brooks, in his Friday column, told the story of an angry voter named Ben. Read this column. Then consider this selected comment of many comments.
Elizabeth FullerOR this comment:
Peterborough, NH
May 20th, 2010
11:33 pm
You're making it sound as if it is government that is making things unfair for Ben and those like him. Was it government that outsourced jobs? Was it government that created the huge pay imbalances between CEOs and the people who work for them? Was it government that forced banks to charge 29% interest rates on credit card balances? Was it government that invented financial products that ruined the retirement funds and savings of so many people?
No, it was lack of government and a belief that things run more smoothly when unfettered by government regulation. It is not our political system that undermines the relationship between effort and reward; it is the way business is structured, and it is the way markets work. Markets, for demographic reasons alone, richly reward undisciplined talk show hosts and manufactured pop stars who may not be putting in half the effort of a truly dedicated teacher or an office cleaner who works two jobs to eke out a living for his or her family.
If Ben is smart, he may be finally realizing what many before him have learned -- that the market is amoral and unjust, and that hard work alone can't always overcome the unfairness thrust in one's way. He may be growing up enough to understand that right and wrong are infinitely complicated constructs that cannot be reduced to the idea that they are contained in the relationship between effort and reward. Does the good that those who work in obscurity and without financial gain among the world's poor have anything to do with the relationship between effort and reward? A thoughtful Ben may be finally understanding what people mean when they say virtue is its own reward.
If Ben gets angry only because he feels he's not getting all he deserves, if he doesn't make the leap to acknowledge that without government "interference" life can be very unfair for many of us, then his anger and extremism will probably get nothing done. But if in his own discomfort he finds the key to making society more just and workable for all, then his anger and "extremism" may be much more effective than centrist gentility.
Barbara
Boston, MA
May 21st, 2010
4:18 pm
Well, Mr. Brooks, your Ben is clearly a white man. Yes, it is true that hard work is its own reward. I started out at age 17 with 3 folders of poetry, 45 cents, and a toothbrush. But the claims of "it is not fair," are too simplistic. For women, gays and lesbians, the disabled, people of color, and others, fairness is not on the table. When a woman's greatest security question is, "Is it safe to walk to my car," and she has to think of that issue at least once a week, no, it is not fair. When gays and lesbians pay their fair share of taxes, but cannot benefit from programs such as Social Security because they cannot marry, no, it isn't fair. Ben had some difficult issues, but his privilege of being a white man makes it possible for him to frame things in such simple terms. Justice is not won by the moderate center, who compromise away everything for nothing. Finally, Ben seems willing to blame the government, when as other posters here pointed out, it was the rampant greed of corporations and the dismantling of effective government regulation that led to the state we are in...
And no, moderation is not what is needed when the US Coast Guard refuses to let TV camera crews film the disaster in the Gulf at the behest of BP, a foreign corporation. Moderation is not what is needed when the government so often colludes with mega corporations to deny justice, fairness, and a living wage and environmental safety to people. Action is. And on that note, boycott BP, and do whatever small step you can to conserve energy. And if you can get pictures of the Gulf, post them online - the press can't tell us what we need to know...
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