Political Trends in The United States
Let's explore political and environmental trends in this century. If viewed from a superficial and reactive perspective one could easily divide America into two visions.. 1) Big Box World - huge, for the most part profit driven globalized corporations funneling vast amount of consumer goods while creating huge waste, damaging natural environments and exhausting of the world's fossil fuels. 2) Localization World - Manageably small, localized, community oriented, and designed to improve the quality of life is a specific locality
An attachment to buying the next new tech toys can be overwhelming. When applying conservation and balance wise choices tend to lean towards living with greater simplicity, focusing on intelligent, socially responsible purchases, and buying locally when possible.
Since the Second World War Americans have lived in an upward spiral of material expectations and extreme individualism. The nuclear family slowly melted down, with Granma and Grandpa sent to a vacation village or a retirement home. I, me, mine was the call of the day and people became more and more liberated. This was probably a good thing concerning civil rights for African Americans, women and the GLBT community but it certainly had its down side. This consumer/materialism could not have gone on forever though it might have seemed so at the time. As the saying goes "it is time to pay the piper". That means a reevaluation and a shifting of our expectation to a more needs driven and community supported lifestyle. Whether community shows up as a Twelve Step meeting or a charity Walkathon the need for a real shift to community thinking is real.
The obvious question that one might ask "is the purpose of economic activity to make a product, to serve humanity, or a combination of both?" The answer to this is yes and no for there really is no way to determine the ultimate purposes of economic activity. Each individual and organization has it's own agenda and there is no grand rule book to define whose agenda is most relevant in this conversation.
If one take the position that the purpose of business can be no more than to produce a profit for the company and its stock-holders than we have a real problem since it could easily be shown that it is just this philosophy driven the planet to the point of disaster."
The dilemma is this much of the world is driven to keep making money and more effectively and efficiently beyond the point of diminishing return. The question is – how do we on a global basis, improve the quality of life for those cannot get what they need. The easy answer is to convince others to consume less but this may not really be the answer.
An attachment to buying the next new tech toys can be overwhelming. When applying conservation and balance wise choices tend to lean towards living with greater simplicity, focusing on intelligent, socially responsible purchases, and buying locally when possible.
Since the Second World War Americans have lived in an upward spiral of material expectations and extreme individualism. The nuclear family slowly melted down, with Granma and Grandpa sent to a vacation village or a retirement home. I, me, mine was the call of the day and people became more and more liberated. This was probably a good thing concerning civil rights for African Americans, women and the GLBT community but it certainly had its down side. This consumer/materialism could not have gone on forever though it might have seemed so at the time. As the saying goes "it is time to pay the piper". That means a reevaluation and a shifting of our expectation to a more needs driven and community supported lifestyle. Whether community shows up as a Twelve Step meeting or a charity Walkathon the need for a real shift to community thinking is real.
The obvious question that one might ask "is the purpose of economic activity to make a product, to serve humanity, or a combination of both?" The answer to this is yes and no for there really is no way to determine the ultimate purposes of economic activity. Each individual and organization has it's own agenda and there is no grand rule book to define whose agenda is most relevant in this conversation.
If one take the position that the purpose of business can be no more than to produce a profit for the company and its stock-holders than we have a real problem since it could easily be shown that it is just this philosophy driven the planet to the point of disaster."
The dilemma is this much of the world is driven to keep making money and more effectively and efficiently beyond the point of diminishing return. The question is – how do we on a global basis, improve the quality of life for those cannot get what they need. The easy answer is to convince others to consume less but this may not really be the answer.
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