I recently read an article in TIME magazine about an interesting new economic theory called Dougnut Economics. The concept was first introduced by the British economist Kate Raworth in a 2012 Oxfam report and then developed more fully in her 2017 book ‘Doughnut Economics: Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist‘.
Raworth proposed the new economic model as a way to address one of humanity’s most challenging problems: how to reduce global poverty without depleting or damaging the planet’s limited natural resources.
The economic theory comes by its name because it is visually represented by two doughnut-shaped discs as shown below. The disc in the center represents a social foundation consisting of the basic fundamental rights all humans ought to have, like access to food & water, housing, education, work, etc. The outer disc represents earth’s ecological ceiling consisting of the environmental thresholds which cannot be exceeded if we want to guarantee the future prosperity of the human species.
The middle green area represents the doughnut, the space where humanity can thrive and progress if the planet’s boundaries are respected. Society’s goal should be to bring all of human life into the “goldilocks zone”; that sweet spot area where everyone has what they need to live a good life, but without overshooting the ecological ceiling limits which would cause further degradation of the environment and jeopardize the health of the Planet.
Capitalism has been the world’s dominant economic system since the 16th century and its adoption by the world’s fastest growing countries has transformed life on earth by helping to lift billions of people from poverty. It is an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.
Proponents of the Doughnut economic theory argue that capitalism is an imperfect system because it emerged during a time when humanity saw itself as separated from the web of life, one where ecological issues were ignored or labeled externalities.
The broad measure used as an economic scorecard in capitalist economic systems is the Gross Domestic Product or GDP. It is a measure of the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders during a specific time period.
The Doughnut economic theory recognizes that economic prosperity depends not only on growth as measured by GDP but on human and natural well-being as well; and it encourages societies to shift to an economic model that is more regenerative and distributive than today’s capitalistic system.
They argue that continued application of 20th century economic thinking is not sustainable or responsible now that the world is aware that the planet is teetering on the edge of a climate breakdown and we know we will witness the death of the living world unless we transform the way we live.
In a doughnut world, local economies would sometimes be growing and sometimes shrinking. It recognizes that growth is a healthy phase of life but endless uncontrolled growth, like cancer, can be harmful to our overall health. Significant GDP growth may be very much needed in low and middle income countries to ensure that their communities can overcome the shortfalls that create deprivations for their citizens, while richer countries would focus not so much on growth but on maintaining their thriving social foundations but at a reduced ecological cost.
Adopting such an economic theory would help balance the inequities that are present in the world today – one where the high living standards of the people in rich countries have them overshooting the planet’s ecological ceiling, while people in poorer countries fall short of the fundamental human rights that comprise the doughnut’s social foundation.
Many economists are skeptical of the doughnut economic theory because in order for it to work it asks humans to magically become indifferent to wealth and income or how well they are doing compared to others. That is a difficult ask when the world includes 7.3 billion people.
Different class and national interests are always fighting one another and it is naïve to believe that globalized capitalism will suddenly transform itself to become more cooperative and gentle; especially when all indicators point towards citizens today becoming more commercially motivated, self-centered and focused on money and success.
I too am skeptical that something as revolutionary as a Doughnut economics system could be universally adopted given today’s political divisiveness, uncompromising culture wars, and money-fueled corporate lobbying interests. Too many rich and powerful people benefit from the economic status quo – and would use their influence within the halls of power to protect their self-interests.
However, the encouraging thing about doughnut economic programs is that they can be run at a grassroots level. Since its introduction many homes, towns, cities, and states have bypassed their national governments and done what they could to apply the concepts behind doughnut economics from the bottom up – to try and help their local societies become more resilient.
Cities have become the laboratories of doughnut economic programs. The simple way that the doughnut economic model captures both the needs of the people and the needs of the planet makes it a convenient tool for leaders to have big conversations about reimagining and remaking the future. Ideas based on doughnut economics are now being discussed, debated and put into practice in academia, business, and in town, city and national governments worldwide.
Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dunedin, Melbourne, Berlin, Portland and even Austin TX are examples of cities applying the new economic concepts as a way to help their cities attain social and environmental sustainability. Since the theory doesn’t lay out specific policies or goals, stakeholders are free to have constructive conversations to decide what benchmarks would help bring their communities inside the doughnut.
Amsterdam’s lofty ambition is to bring all 872,000 of their residents inside the doughnut, ensuring that everyone has access to a good quality of life, without putting more pressure on the planet than is sustainable. They have implemented a true price initiative which takes into account the carbon footprint of the goods and services they produce as well as the living wage requirements of the workers. To satisfy the dual need for more affordable housing and reduced CO2 emissions, Amsterdam has implemented laws making the use of recycled and natural materials mandatory in the construction sector and they have started transforming neighborhood parking lots into community gardens.
Without a series of universal solutions, which do not exist and will probably never exist, it will be up to the politicians and economists to determine which elements of the donut system can be implemented successfully and to what extent. Amsterdam has made a start by applying this litmus test question to all their municipal project decisions: “Will doing this project actually make our community healthy and happy?”
To all my readers, wherever you may be: I hope you are healthy and happy and living comfortably in the sweet spot of the donut – and I hope that you are thinking about what life decisions you can make today to ensure that future generations will have that same chance to have a bite out of the donut as you.
It seems like everyone I talk to believes that 2020 was a terrible year. It’s easy to understand why given the COVID-19 pandemic, the global recession, numerous episodes of racial injustice, refugees fleeing their homes, continued global warming, and to top it off, a bitter election year battle for the soul of the America.
Every day we are assaulted with negative news about wars, shootings, protests, pollution, inequality, poverty and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. These stories suggest that the world is in bad shape and many people living today are convinced that things here on earth have never been worse.
Despite all the depressing news coverage, people ought to be told that the world has actually never been better than it is right now. As hard as it is for us to believe – humans, as a species, are doing a lot better than we ever have.
That is the conclusion that Harvard professor and acclaimed science writer Steven Pinker comes to in his 2018 Ted Talk and in his book Enlightenment Now. Pinker argues that the world is not that bad. In fact, he says when you look at all of the objective data, our world is in the best shape it’s ever been and humanity is improving every day. He concludes that now is the best time in the history of the world to be alive.
We know that people did not live well in the distant past, regardless of how much money they had. For the vast majority of human history — if you were lucky enough to survive childbirth, life really was nasty, brutish and short. It was lived at the edge of starvation, and to modern eyes it looks unpleasant, boring and sometimes terrifying.
Pinker uses numerous categories as a yardstick to measure the variety of ways that the world is better for humans now compared to the past:
We’re all Living Longer
The average life expectancy of people today compared to the past clearly shows that humanity is flourishing. Just 250 years ago, one-third of children in the world’s richest countries did not live to see their fifth birthday. Today, even in the world’s poorest countries, more than 94% of children survive past their fifth birthday.
The life expectancy of a person born in England in the year 1558 was 22 years old! It slowly increased over the next few hundred years but it wasn’t until 1907 that the average life expectancy reached 50.
Today the average worldwide life expectancy is 70 years old and in developed countries it is over 80. There is nowhere on Earth where life expectancy is less than 50.
The advancements we’ve made globally in the last 100 years, even in our poorest, most war-torn countries, are incredible. The life expectancy in Somalia today is higher than the highest life-expectancy of any country in the world 100 years ago. In this respect even the poorest of third world countries is better off today than the richest, most powerful countries were in the early 20th century.
It is hard for those of us living today to imagine living during a time when so many people died so young. But all you have to do is walk around an old cemetery of people who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries to get an idea of how commonplace it is to encounter the gravestones of infants and children who died at a very young age; and how remarkable it is to encounter a gravestone of someone who lived past 80.
As an example, during a recent hike I came upon an old cemetery and was struck by the tragic family gravesite of Ansel & Esther Howard. They had three daughters: Sally born in 1825, Silvia born in 1827 and Nancy born in 1834. All of them died young. Nancy in 1836 at the age of 2, Silvia in 1845 at the age of 18 and Sally in 1846 at the age of 21. What heartache their parents must have suffered.
Family Gravesite of Ansel & Esther Howard
We’re Healthier Now
A big factor behind the gradual increase of human longevity has been incremental advancements made by the medical field over time. The discovery of antibiotics, vaccines, targeted medicines and proven disease treatment protocols – along with the increasing availability of clean tap water – have kept us alive and made our lives less miserable.
Our increasing knowledge of the human machine and how to keep it healthy has directly led to more people adopting healthy lifestyle regimens (diet, exercise and sleep) that when followed prevent or delay the onset of aging related diseases.
Thanks to the discovery of antibiotics like penicillin, developing an infection does not have to mean death or the amputation of a body part; and thanks to vaccines, virulent contagious diseases like Smallpox (which was responsible for the deaths of more than 300 million people in the 20th century) no longer terrorize the earth.
We’re Safer Now
If you only paid attention to the news, you would probably think that crime is at an all-time high, when in actuality the American crime rate is at a 50 year low and roughly half of what it was in 1990. In the last thirty years alone, the homicide rate has dropped from 8.5 per 100,000 to 5.3 per 100,000.
There is also less conflict between countries today. Before the advent of modern democracies most of the world was run by fanatics and madmen like Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan who would destroy entire cities and murder their populations over the slightest provocation.
During the 1950s, there were an average of six international wars per year going on, with approximately 250 people per million dying war-related deaths. In the last ten years the world has averaged only one war per year with less than 10 people per million dying per year. There has also been a reduction in the number of nuclear arms from more than 60,000 in 1988 to 10,325 in 2017.
There are still far too many conflicts in the world, but as hard as it might be to believe, there are much less of them than there ever have been before.
And let’s not forget that a great Civil War was fought to eliminate the scourge of a robust slave trade that abducted millions of Africans, shipped them to foreign shores where they lived in bondage and were subjected to the atrocities of rape, beatings, family separations, lynchings, racial hatred and political disenfranchisement.
Other developments over the last 50 years years that have served to make us safer include:
Labor laws ensuring greedy businesses do not exploit children or force workers to toil under unsafe operating conditions.
Civil rights laws preventing discrimination against employees and job applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age.
Department of Transportation agencies establishing codified safety standards for automobiles, highways, railroads, aircraft, boats and the safe transport of hazardous materials.
Because of our adherence to these safety standards over the last century we’ve become 96% less likely to die in a car accident, 88% less likely to be killed on the sidewalk, 99% less likely to die in a plane crash, 95% less likely to be killed on the job, and 89% less likely to die from a natural disaster.
Environmental Protection regulations protecting the nation’s air, land and water from being polluted by the waste generated by the Industrial Revolution.
Prior to these environmental protections laws, the industrial waste generated by factories was allowed to be dumped directly into the environment poisoning the air, land, and water and sickening the people who came in contact with it. Thirty years ago in the US, there were 35 million tons of hazardous particulate matter in the air, today that has been reduced by 40% to 21 million tons.
As a young boy growing up in the 1970’s I remember there were rivers that were considered too polluted to fish because they were downstream from a paper mill or factory. Other rivers had no fish because they had been killed from the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide compounds that poured into the streams in the form of “Acid Rain”. Today, these rivers run clean and the fish thrive.
There is Less Poverty Now
Global poverty is one of the worst problems that the world faces. The poorest in the world today suffer with diminished health because they are often hungry, poorly educated and have no reliable access to electricity, plumbing or medical care.
For much of history, only a small elite enjoyed living conditions that would not be described as ‘extreme poverty’ today. But with the onset of industrialization and rising productivity, the share of people living in extreme poverty started to decrease. Over the course of the last two centuries, one of the most remarkable achievements of humankind has been the reduction in the share of people that are living in extreme poverty.
Two hundred years ago 90% of the people in the world suffered from extreme poverty, today less than 10% do. As recently as 50 years ago, half of the people in the American South lived in extreme poverty and had no hope of improvement – but today no southern state has a poverty rate higher than 20%.
Cutting the global poverty rate in half since 1990 has translated into approximately one billion less starving, desperate people in the world today.
The trend continues to be positive due to globalization of the world’s economies and government social programs that provide aid to the needy. It is important however, for us living today to recognize how incredibly privileged we are to live at a time when, thanks to technological advancements, even the poorest citizens live in more comfort than the richest kings of yesterday.
We’re more Educated Now
When my mother was a young girl growing up in the 1930’s she was lucky to attend elementary school through the 7th grade. She was part of a farming family and her father thought it was more important for her and her seven siblings to stay home and help him run the farm.
That was the norm back when children were put to labor at an early age on the farm or in the factories. Educating children was not a priority or a requirement, so many children never participated in formal school training.
Before the 17th century, only 5% of Europeans could read or write. Today, more than 90% of the world’s population under the age of 25 can read and write. Literacy is at an all-time high and a more educated populace has had a direct effect on lowering the global poverty rate.
In addition, patriarchal dominated systems around the world are now being pressured to offer equal education opportunities for the women in their country that were denied in the past.
We’re more Productive Now
Constant advancements in science and technology have been the foundation underlying most of the reasons why humans are better today. Poverty, life-expectancy and quality of life are all better because science is being harnessed to make us more productive.
Take hunger as an example. Back in the 1970s, many people were concerned that the world would not have enough food to keep up with the growing population. That fear was portrayed in the old movie Soylent Green. Food shortages would have been a major problem indeed, had not science made remarkable advancements in the areas of agriculture and food-resource management which enabled the food industry to exponentially increase their crop yields.
People also have more free time today to devote to productive pursuits because new labor-saving gadgets have been invented that dramatically reduce the amount of time we spend doing housework. In the last 100 years, the average time spent doing housework has fallen from 60 hours a week to fewer than 15 hours a week! That gives modern humans an additional 45+ hours per week to spend pursuing productive activities, making it possible for women to leave home, join the workplace, and make positive contributions to society.
Finally, the advent of the world-wide Internet and global cellular communications has had a tremendous multiplying effect on society’s productivity. We take it for granted today that most everybody has a smart phone genie in their pocket that, within seconds, can connect them to anyone at any time, give them precise directions on how to navigate to any destination, play any song ever recorded or answer any question that they can think up.
None of this technology existed 20 years ago. Think about how amazing it is that you can find just about anything you want within seconds – a book, a movie, a new pair of boots. We get to live in the kind of world that used to be imagined only in science-fiction novels. My 92 year old mother, who we are training to use an iPad, stares at us in wide-eyed wonder when we show her what she can do with the device. She can attend her Church service, visit with her grandchildren and watch her soap opera all without leaving her chair!
Of course, constant communication and information overload also plays a part in explaining why everyone is so convinced that things in the world are so bad now. Everything is so immediate, the entire world laid out in real-time before us – and that can be scary and stressful.
But the information overload may actually help save us because it makes us look the world in the face and confront all the evil that has nowhere to hide anymore. We can’t pretend George Floyd wasn’t unjustly killed because we all watched him slowly murdered by the police on our TV screens and Twitter feeds. In a sense, the outrage, horror and disgust that gets generated by exposing these heinous events actually helps keep the world from spinning further out of control by bending the arc of the moral universe further toward justice.
Contemplating all the ways that the world is better for humans today compared to the past was a good exercise for me because, as my wife reminds me, I do have a tendency sometimes to focus on the negative (when I do this, my wife calls me Eeyore because my behavior reminds her of the gloomy sidekick character portrayed in the Winnie the Pooh children’s books).
You can always fool yourself into seeing a decline if you compare the constantly bleeding headlines of the present with the rose-tinted memories of the past.
Pinker concludes that while the world still has plenty of problems to solve, it’s healthier for us to look at the big picture and see the glass as half full. “We will never have a perfect world, but there’s no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing and if we think of issues like climate change and nuclear war as problems to be solved instead of apocalypses in waiting.”
I have a new appreciation for all the blessings that come with living in the present age, I feel grateful to be a beneficiary of all the progress the world has made, and I look toward the future with optimism, in the hope that it will be an even better world for my grandchildren.
So, I salute 2020 as the best year ever! Henceforth, whenever I feel my inner Eeyore rising, I will remember how good I have it and remind myself to always keep on the sunny side of life.
There’s a dark and a troubled side of life There’s a bright and a sunny side, too Though we meet with the darkness and strife The sunny side we also may view
Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side Keep on the sunny side of life It will help us every day, it will brighten all the way If we’ll keep on the sunny side of life
Lyrics to old Folk Spiritual “Keep on the Sunny Side of Life” as sung by the Carter Family
Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. Over the course of her 87 years the noted feminist and surprisingly unlikely popular cultural icon smashed glass ceilings and delivered plenty of wisdom—both inside and outside the courtroom.
On Bader-Ginsburg’s passing, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, issued this statement lauding her service to the nation and her important contributions to the country’s laws:
“Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature and we at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
Chief Justice John Roberts
Her life was filled with notable accomplishments which included graduating with the highest honors from Cornell University in 1954 and from Harvard and Colombia Law Schools at the top of her class.
She slowly worked her way up through the male-dominated law profession beginning with a clerking job in the United States District Court of Appeals in New York, followed by teaching jobs at Rutgers University School of Law and Columbia Law School – where she became the school’s first tenured female professor.
Her teaching and litigation in the 70’s on behalf of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, drew national attention when the legal briefs she wrote led the Supreme Court to strike down laws that favored men over women.
When she was appointed to the United States Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she was only the second woman to sit on the bench in the court’s 212 year history. RBG quickly became known for her scholarly, balanced opinions and her forthright personal courage.
But it wasn’t all those legal accomplishments that made RBG so loved – it was her laser-focused attention to be a champion for all those who suffered from injustice and inequality.
She had the Old Testament words “Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue” prominently displayed on the wall of her chamber and it epitomized the mission she pursued throughout her career – to eliminate gender-based stereotyping in legislation and regulations.
Blessed are the peacemakers and RBG should be counted among them because justice and peace have always been inextricably linked. It was Dwight Eisenhower who remarked that “peace and justice are two sides of the same coin“; Martin Luther King who preached that “true peace cannot exist without justice“; and Pope Paul the 6th who advised his flock “If you want peace, work for Justice“.
RBG focused on removing injustice in all its forms and her work helped to codify the important gains won by the women’s and civil rights movements into the nation’s laws; thus bringing a measure of peace to millions of American citizens who had suffered under laws that were not fair.
A child in a Supergirl costume pays respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Image courtesy of Reuters
One of the best ways to appreciate RBG is to examine her own words of wisdom about the topics that were near and dear to her:
ON HER MOTHER
“My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady, and the other was to be independent. The study of law was unusual for women of my generation. For most girls growing up in the ’40s, the most important degree was not your B.A., but your M.R.S... My mother made reading a delight and counseled me constantly to be able to fend for myself, whatever fortune might have in store for me.“
ON HER HUSBAND
“I had a life partner who thought my work was as important as his, and I think that made all the difference for me.”
ON TURNING REJECTION INTO OPPORTUNITY
“You think about what would have happened… Suppose I had gotten a job as a permanent associate. Probably I would have climbed up the ladder and today I would be a retired partner. So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great good fortune.”
ON FEMALE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
“When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the supreme court]? I say ‘When there are nine.’ People are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.“
ON WRITING DISSENTING OPINIONS
“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, ‘my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way,’ but the greatest dissents do become court opinions... [you have to} fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.“
ON CRITICISM AND NOT GETTING A MAJORITY VOTE
“I’m dejected, but only momentarily, when I can’t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important. But then you go on to the next challenge and you give it your all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There’ll be another time, another day. Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.“
ON HAVING IT ALL
“You can’t have it all, all at once. Who—man or woman—has it all, all at once? Over my lifespan I think I have had it all. But in different periods of time things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.”
ON DISCRIMINATION
“I try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they’re men or women... Our daughters and sons should be free to achieve whatever their talents equip them to accomplish, with no artificial barriers blocking their way.”
ON GENDER EQUALITY
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception… A gender line helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.”
ON FEMINISM
“Feminism… I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, ‘Free to be You and Me.’ Free to be, if you were a girl—doctor, lawyer, Indian chief. Anything you want to be. And if you’re a boy, and you like teaching, you like nursing, you would like to have a doll, that’s OK too. That notion that we should each be free to develop our own talents, whatever they may be, and not be held back by artificial barriers—manmade barriers, certainly not heaven sent.“
ON HER FELLOW SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
“We care about this institution more than our individual egos and we are all devoted to keeping the Supreme Court in the place that it is, as a co-equal third branch of government and I think a model for the world in the collegiality and independence of judges.“
ON THE 5-4 HOBBY LOBBY RULING
“Justices continue to think and can change. I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eyes will be open tomorrow.”
ON BEING GIVEN THE NICKNAME THE NOTORIOUS RBG
“I think a law clerk told me about this Tumblr and also explained to me what Notorious RBG was a parody on. And now my grandchildren love it and I try to keep abreast of the latest that’s on the tumblr. … In fact I think I gave you a Notorious RBG T-shirt. I have quite a large supply.“
ON BEING AN INTERNET SENSATION
“My grandchildren love it. At my advanced age—I’m now an octogenarian—I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who want to take my picture.“
ON HER PLACE IN HISTORY
“How fortunate I was to be alive and a lawyer when, for the first time in United States history, it became possible to urge, successfully, before legislatures and courts, the equal-citizenship stature of women and men as a fundamental constitutional principle. Feminists, caring men among them, had sought just that for generations. Until the late 1960s, however, society was not prepared to heed their plea.“
ON HOW SHE’D LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED
“Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something, as my colleague David Souter would say, outside myself. Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid.“
As Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s body arrived in Washington for the high honor of being the only woman in the history of the United States to lie in state in the nation’s Capitol building – the Rabbi Lauren Holzbatt paid tribute to the woman who miraculously overcame all the odds to become a modern day prophet for the soul of the American nation:
‘To be born into the world that does not see you, that does not believe in your potential, that does not give you a path for opportunity, or a clear path for education and despite this, to be able to see beyond the world you are in, to imagine that something can be different. That is the job of a prophet. And it is the rare prophet who not only imagines a new world, but also makes that new world a reality in her lifetime. This was the brilliance and vision of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,’ she said.
Rabbi Lauren Holtz Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Rest in Peace RBG. A grateful nation thanks you for a job well done.
It’s a Presidential election year in America and, as a resident of “The Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire, I am one of those privileged voters who is sought out and courted every four years by candidates who are hoping to fare well during the first in the nation Primary.
With the Primary now over, I am glad the campaigns and media are moving on to the other States. It feels good to have relief from the constant barrage of text messages, phone calls, television commercials and campaign literature that have been assaulting the State for weeks.
Many people are disillusioned with the political process and have become frustrated by everything they believe is wrong with American politics today, including:
Special interests spending big money and exerting undue influence on elections and laws
State legislators that gerrymander voting districts and enact restrictive voting rules to protect career politicians and suppress voter turnout
A polarized and poisoned political environment that discourages qualified people from running
A lack of diverse candidates
Uncontrolled government spending racking up huge budget debts that threaten future prosperity
It is no surprise that 45% of eligible voters choose not to vote during a presidential election. These voters feel disenfranchised and believe that their vote does not matter and will not change anything.
Although politics is depressing most of the time, I still take my right to vote very seriously and believe it is the best way for citizens to elect leaders who will faithfully represent them and move the country in the direction that they want to see it go.
It took some effort for me to seriously weigh the positions and platforms of the dozen or so candidates who were vying to win this year’s presidential nomination contest and to choose the candidate that I felt would be best for the country.
I worked to dive below the surface of the political jingoism, platitudes and slogans that seem to be built into every professional political campaign; reminding myself of the sage advice George Washington shared during his farewell address warning the American public to “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism“.
Unfortunately, too many candidates try to deceive voters by pretending to be someone they are not. They resort to demagoguery in an attempt to whip up passions in the electorate by exploiting emotions, prejudice, and ignorance and by shutting down reasoned deliberations.
The two most common expressions you hear spoken by politicians trying to win votes is “American Dream” and “America First“. Both expressions were born nearly a century ago and they instantly became code words embodying opposing views in the fierce political battle to define the soul of the nation.
Sarah Churchwell, a Chicago native and professor of American literature at the University of London, traces the evolution of the two expressions in her book Behold, America; a Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2018.
She writes that the current meanings of these expressions is quite different from those they held originally. American Dream first began as a pledge for democratic and economic equality, representing the noble communal pursuit of justice for all of America’s citizens.
Over time, as anxieties in the country over Communism rose and the ideals of equality came to be considered a threat to unfettered capitalism, American Dream was reclaimed to mean something quite different – the individual desire to ‘make it big’ and the personal drive for success and material wealth. The ideals of justice, liberty and equality gradually morphed into a justification for selfishness and greed.
Woodrow Wilson first spoke in 1916 of putting America First as a way to urge his countrymen to remain neutral in World War I so that the nation would be in a good position to help both sides at the conflict’s end.
The expression was soon taken up by opponents of immigration and advocates of isolationism, who feared that the nation would be contaminated by contact with foreign elements. America First has now been adopted as a hugely influential isolationist slogan and put to sinister use by hate groups including white supremacy and pro-Nazi movements.
‘The American dream is dead,’ said Donald Trump in 2015 when announcing his candidacy for president. He would revive it he promised, “By putting America First“.
Trump, in his pronouncements, was exploiting political terminology that has long appealed to racists and right wing extremists. The subtle, and not so subtle, messages Donald Trump sent to his supporters is that the reason many Americans are not successful and wealthy is because our country lets in too many immigrants and is being treated unfairly by foreign nations who are taking advantage of us .
Gone was any notion of the original meaning behind those expressions, when American Dream referred to economic fairness and justice for all citizens and America First reflected a policy to keep America neutral and a voice of reason in the presence of world conflicts so that we remain a beacon for the rest of the world.
As America struggles again to project a shared vision, to itself and to the world, perhaps the meanings and history of these expressions needs to be understood afresh before the true spirit of America can be reclaimed.
In this time of great political division in our nation, when many ask what America’s future holds, perhaps it is best to remember the words spoken at the 1895 dedication of a monument to President Ulysses S. Grant. The speaker asked his listeners to view the journey America had taken since its beginning to become a flourishing great nation.
Oh, critic and cynic, dreamer and doubter, behold America, as this day she stands before her history and her heroes. See her millions of people, her free institutions, her equal laws, her generous opportunities, her schoolhouses and her churches; you see misfortunes and defects. for not yet is fully realized the American dream; you surely see her mighty progress toward the fulfillment of her philosophy.
Oration in Honor of President Ulysses S. Grant, 1895
The speaker informs us that America is in a constant state of becoming, always moving forward in an attempt to form that more perfect union envisioned by the founders. We will never fully arrive – each successive generation will need to battle for the soul of the country and decide for themselves what it is America stands for.
If you believe that “Political society exists for the sake of noble actions“, as Aristotle did, then it is comforting to have faith that America’s political leaders will eventually act nobly and do the things that will move our country into the future as a stronger moral nation.
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1705, the eighth of his parent’s ten children. Being one of the youngest in the household Ben had to learn important skills on how to get along with others – developing a quick wit that he used to help him defuse confrontations throughout his life.
Apprenticed by his father to his 21 year old brother for a term of 9 years when he was only 12, Ben learned the trade quickly, eventually surpassing the skills of his older brother. To escape from his indentured servitude contract Franklin ran away to Philadelphia when he was only 17 years old.
In Philadelphia Franklin was able to find steady work at a Printing shop. His work ethic earned the admiration of the Provincial Governor who encouraged him to start his own shop – even shipping him off to Britain with capital so he could purchase his own Printing equipment.
At the tender age of 20, Franklin sailed back to America using the 2 month sailing time as an opportunity to examine his life up until that point and formulating a plan of conduct to follow for the remainder of his life.
In his journal written during that voyage he chided himself for the irregularity of his past actions and vowed to prevent his life from becoming wasted on a confused variety of different scenes.
With that in mind he set about making certain resolutions to himself and putting in place a plan of action so that henceforth I may live in all respects like a rational creature. Franklin further identified in his journal, the thirteen virtues that he felt, when practiced, would reinforce those resolutions.
Benjamin Franklin’s Resolutions
It is necessary for me to be extremely frugal until such a time as I have paid off what I owe.
To endeavor to speak truth in every instance, to give nobody expectations that are not likely to be answered, but aim for sincerity in every word and action.
To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish projects of growing suddenly rich; for industry and patience are the surest means of plenty.
I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the fault I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.
Benjamin Franklin’s Virtues
Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation
Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling conversation
Order: Let all things have their place; let each part of your business have it’s time
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve
Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; waste nothing
Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions
Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit, think innocently and justly
Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the things that are your duty
Moderation: Avoid extremes, avoid resenting injuries as much as you think they deserve
Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable
Chastity: Rarely practice sexual indulgence except for health or offspring; never to dullness, weakness or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Franklin’s original list of virtues stopped at 12, but he added the 13th item after one of his Quaker friends mentioned to him that his neighbors thought he exhibited too much pride.
With those resolutions and virtues in hand, Franklin began a program to integrate them into his daily life. He devised a chart based on a thirteen week rotation where each week he focused on mastering one of the virtues. He kept a scorecard at the end of each day to keep track of his success at making the virtues a habit.
Franklin eventually abandoned the exercise when he discovered that virtues are not so simply acquired. Still, he was proud of his plan of personal conduct and for making it the basis for his life’s conduct. In later years he judged that the mere attempt had made him a better and happier man than he would have been otherwise.
While reading about Franklin’s uncommon life in the book The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by the historian H.W. Brands, I was astonished at the seriousness and resolution of mind exhibited by the 20 year old Ben Franklin.
Most 20 year old men and woman today are not busy formulating a plan of action for the conduct of their life or thinking about which virtues they ought to be practicing in order to achieve success in life.
I would guess that most 20 year old Americans today are more busy playing video games, binge watching television shows, obsessing over their social media presence or searching for ways to acquire the materialistic trappings of success without having to work too hard for them.
I know that at that age, I was thinking more about selfish pursuits like fraternity parties, girls and sports than I was thinking about the irregularity of my actions or my failure to live like a rational creature.
What is even more astonishing than Franklin’s display of maturity and seriousness of mind at such a young age is the incredible accomplishments he achieved throughout his life by following the principles behind those early resolutions and by being true to his virtues.
Courtesy of the Franklin Institute
One glance at the list of Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments will make you wonder how it is possible for a single person to achieve so much, in so many different fields, in the short span of one human lifetime.
Benjamin Franklin’s Accomplishments
Established the leading Printer business in the Colony of Pennsylvania eventually expanding his business to a second shop in South Carolina. Being the most successful printer in the Colonies he was essentially the Google of his day – owning a monopoly on the thoughts and opinions that got disseminated every day.
Published the Philadelphia Gazette which became the most popular newspaper in the Province. He wrote most of the Opinion pieces using an alias and published the 1st political cartoon.
Advocated for paper currency and became the Colony’s approved currency printer – designing a pattern that could not be counterfeited.
Created Poor Richard’s Almanac – a popular yearly publication that charted the phases of the moon, weather, timing of the tides, farming information, calendar events, recipes, cures, and psychological advice. Franklin’s alter ego, Poor Richard, dispensed pearls of wisdom throughout the Almanac that quickly became staples of the American lexicon. Phrases like “Great talkers, Little doers“, “Hunger never saw bad bread“, “If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend“, “There are no gains without pains” and “If you make yourself a sheep, the wolves will eat you“.
Recruited a club of inquirers considered to have the best minds in the city and called them the “Junto”. The club met weekly to discuss moral, political, philosophical, literary and scientific matters. Franklin encouraged the club to focus on topics which would contribute most to the benefit of mankind and expanded on this concept when he became a founding member of the American Philosophical Society.
Founded the country’s first Public Library at age 27.
Following his philosophy that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure“, he formed a volunteer collection of active men who were committed to combating fires. This group became the Union Fire Company, the first volunteer firefighters in America. To spare homeowners from the financial ruin of a fire he proposed the idea of Fire Insurance policies.
Writing that “you can undertake nothing that will be more advantageous to your children, nor more acceptable to our country“, Franklin offered a plan to educate the children of Philadelphia free from the extraordinary expense and hazard of sending them away to private school. In effect, he became the first organizer of public schools as well as a primary founder of the University of Pennsylvania
Invented an improved wood stove that kept houses significantly warmer and less sooty while requiring less than a quarter of the firewood of existing fireplaces. The Franklin stove quickly spread throughout the world because Franklin declined to patent it, letting anyone borrow its design and improve on it. He reasoned that he had profited from other people’s inventions, why should not others benefit from his.
Appointed postmaster of Philadelphia by the British Crown Post in 1737, a post he held for 16 years. His effective measures led to the first profits for the colonial post office. In 1775, when the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office, Franklin was made the first Postmaster General due to his experience in the field.
He was at the forefront in the field of the early studies of electricity. He performed experiments and wrote papers that described how electricity behaved and he invented an electric battery and a primitive electric motor. His work was honored by the world engineering societies and he was given the title of Doctor.
Proved that lightning was associated with electricity. Franklin helped tame lightning by inventing the lightning rod which protected countless buildings from being struck and possibly destroyed by fire.
The first to theorize that chronic exposure to lead was toxic. He suggested replacing lead coils used in distilleries with copper coils instead.
Franklin suffered from poor eyesight as he aged which led him to invent bifocals, dual lens eyeglasses with the upper lens used for distance and the lower lens for reading.
He was an early and ardent advocate of the health benefits of vigorous exercise and one of the first to recognize that Colds are not caused from being exposed to cold temperatures but rather by being exposed to one another’s respiration.
Performed experiments underlying the principle of refrigeration. Noticing how evaporation of liquid can absorb heat, he theorized this was how trees cooled themselves and mitigated the effects of summer temperatures.
Conjectured that earth’s core was fluid in nature and that the mountains and land masses were floating upon this fluid.
Performed experiments during his many sailing trips, discovering that the Gulf stream was actually a river of warm water flowing over the colder body of the ocean.
Recommended the building of double-hulled ships to reduce the chance of vessels sinking when they were in an accident.
Presciently hit on a fundamental law of nature, the conservation of mass-energy, writing that we cannot destroy the energy confined in a piece of wood that is burned in a fire – we can only separate it from that which confines it and so set it at liberty.
Invented a Rolling Press that could copy a letter in under two minutes.
Invented swim fins, the musical instrument glass armonica, a flexible urinary catheter, his own version of the odometer, and the long arm – which he used to reach books in high shelves of his library.
Even though he kept two slaves, Franklin viewed the institution of slavery as incompatible with justice and humanity. He became one of the first distinguished men in the country calling for the abolition of slavery – writing that the introduction of slaves could only diminish a nation.
Franklin was an early British Loyalist and wanted America to avoid war with its Mother country, but he gradually came to believe in the cause of American Independence writing that “We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature” .
He served prominent Ambassadorial posts in Britain and France, representing the face of America to the European Continent throughout his career.
During the American Revolution, Franklin played a pivotal role in convincing the French government to join the American cause and persuading them to provide crucial loans and naval assistance – which George Washington skillfully used to defeat the British.
Contributed to and signed all the founding documents of the United States; including the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.
At his death, he established the Franklin fund, a trust to benefit the two cities he loved, Boston and Philadelphia. The fund is still solvent today and continues to contribute to worthy causes.
Most people would consider their life successful if they had achieved just one of Benjamin Franklin’s long list of accomplishments. It is hard to think of any other American in the history of the country who has had comparable ambition and talent to pursue so many interests.
Benjamin Franklin was one who came as close as any to realizing the full potential of the human spirit, a one-of-a kind talent who had a significant and profound influence in the early development of his nation.
H.W Brand labels Franklin The First American because he believes that Franklin was the most important American who ever lived because more than any other person, he was responsible for defining the American way of life and he considers Franklin’s combined contributions to his country over the course of his lifetime greater than any other American citizen.
While reading about the life of Benjamin Franklin, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of his accomplishments had their roots in that original Plan of Conduct he devised at the tender age of 20. It seems like his prolific productivity and success would not have been possible unless he remained true to those early resolutions and virtues throughout his life.
It makes me wonder how much more productive I could have been with my life if I had diligently followed a similar plan of conduct. What good has remained undone in the world because, unlike Franklin, I have not spent my life in always being employed in something useful?
It is of some solace to me that many of Franklin’s most important contributions came in his old age. It gives me hope, as I am about to embark on my seventh decade of life, that it is still not too late for me to live more deliberately and strive with my remaining time to be someone who, as Franklin put it – either writes something worth reading ordoes something worth writing.
Benjamin Franklin died April 17, 1790; three months after his eighty-fourth birthday. It was estimated that half the population of Philadelphia turned out to mourn at his funeral. Messages of sympathy and respect poured in from dignitaries around the world honoring Franklin because he sought knowledge not just for his own sake but for all of humanity’s.
It seems fitting to close this blog with the epitaph that Benjamin Franklin drafted for his tombstone when he was only 22 years old. Wherever his Spirit happens to be, it is inspiring to believe that it is still living on somewhere in a new and more perfect edition.
The body of B. Franklin, Printer; Like the cover of an old book, It’s contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,Lies here, Food for worms. But the work shall not be wholly lost, For it will, as he believed, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the author.
I remember a moment from my past when my oldest daughter was about four years old; I took her and her friend Nicole to their ballet class, and after that to the city library so we could pick out some books.
As I was checking out the books, some young boy apparently had grabbed Nicole by the neck and pushed her out of his way. I turned around and saw the boy leaving with his mother just as Nicole began to cry. I tried to comfort her the best I could but was not having much success.
I stood up to collect the books that I had left on the counter and when I turned back I noticed that my daughter had come over to hug and console Nicole, saying to her “It’s all right Nicole, we’ll go home and have some lunch now OK – Don’t cry“. Nicole stopped crying immediately and the two small girls walked hand in hand back to the car.
It was a touching and deeply fulfilling moment for me, as it would be for most parents I suppose, the first time you observe a child that you have loved and nurtured, nurture somebody else. Events of that sort, where you are present to witness your child demonstrate the qualities of compassion and empathy for another person, come along rarely in life to reassure parents that they are doing something right and that their children will turn out to be decent human beings.
This memory from 30 years ago popped into my mind this past week as I watched and listened to the sad saga of the immigrant children being forcibly separated from their parents due to sudden changes in the US immigration policy.
How can it be I wondered that a policy that breaks up families – which is contrary to everything in life that we hold sacred and holy – was conceived, ordered into being, approved by the Justice Dept and implemented and enforced by the Immigration authorities?
The first reaction is to brand all those involved with this malevolent policy as evil because it was obvious to the majority of the country that the people who supported this policy lacked empathy and basic compassion – not only for the families who were fleeing poverty and violence, but especially for the innocent children who were being punished through no fault of their own.
Compassion is defined as a feeling of concern for the suffering of others. Psychiatric studies have found that psychopaths and those suffering from narcissism are often incapable of feeling empathy or compassion for someone else. It would be dangerous and inaccurate, however, to just label anyone who supported this policy as a narcissist or a psychopath. Psychiatrists list these other reasons that can cause people to harden their hearts.
The emotion of anger can block off a person’s capacity to feel warmth or mercy for those experiencing troubles and difficulties. It is likely that some people lack empathy for the families being split apart simply because they are very angry at immigrants who are trying to enter this country illegally. They could never imagine themselves trying to flee illegally to a different country and their anger at those who would prevents them from putting themselves in the other person’s shoes.
Some people prefer to remain distant as a sort of protection mechanism. They fear that if they get too close or become too involved in an emotional issue then they will be vulnerable to pain. For these people avoidance is a primary objective and out-of-sight out-of-mind is their philosophy for dealing with life’s difficult events.
Some have difficulties identifying and relating to others and can only really understand and empathize with things that they have experienced personally. Most people in the United States are not hungry or facing violence, therefore it is difficult for them to show compassion for those who are experiencing such traumas.
Finally, some people are inclined to fear people that are not like them. They de-humanize immigrants who do not look like them or speak their language and reason that if they are allowed to enter the country they will take away their jobs, harm their families and perform criminal acts.
I suspect that it was a combination of all these factors that resulted in our government leaders and agencies creating and enforcing such a heartless policy. It’s hard to believe there could have been anyone at the table speaking out with compassion and empathy while these immigration policy decisions were being made.
Karen Armstrong, a British author and former Catholic religious sister used the $100,000 TED prize she won in 2008 to help create a charitable organization called the Charter for Compassion, which urges the peoples of the world to embrace the core value of compassion and identifies shared moral priorities across religious traditions, in order to foster global understanding and a peaceful world.
Armstrong claimed in her TED talk that if reason is not tempered by compassion and empathy it leads men and women into a moral void. That is exactly what appeared to happen in this case. In an effort to achieve their broader immigration policy goals, and to force their opponents to come to the bargaining table, the Trump Administration created a moral disaster by failing to temper their zero tolerance policy with compassion and empathy.
I was heartened to see that the policy was met with outrage across the world and that prominent religious leaders and ethics experts condemned the policy and spoke out against the immorality of separating immigrant children from their parents.
This event should be a life lesson for this administration and for any of us who are involved in making decisions that have the power to cause unnecessary suffering in others. We cannot turn a blind eye to the immoral consequences of our decisions. We must temper our reasoning with empathy and compassion if we wish to overcome selfishness and make decisions that will lead to the creation of just and peaceful communities.
Words to Live By... 