Friday, August 05, 2011
From the Ruins
Over the last five hundred years, wealthy Europeans devastated the original societies of the Americas. Of course, they had a lot of enthusiastic help from less than wealthy Europeans, but by and large they grew rich while the rest of us muddled by.
Now that they have cannibalized the system that supplanted the indigenous one, many are left wondering how we got into this mess, and how we can get out of it. The answer is simpler than it might seem.
Correcting the moral flaw that enabled such colossal theft does not require intellectual genius or vast sums; what it does require is political engagement and moral commitment. As we rebuild our society from the ruins demolished by Wall Street, Congress and the White House, we now know that moral leadership cannot be found in any of these corrupted institutions. As we fight to defeat the predatory mindset from which they operate, we will simultaneously instruct and hopefully inoculate the young against this aggressive disease.
Now that they have cannibalized the system that supplanted the indigenous one, many are left wondering how we got into this mess, and how we can get out of it. The answer is simpler than it might seem.
Correcting the moral flaw that enabled such colossal theft does not require intellectual genius or vast sums; what it does require is political engagement and moral commitment. As we rebuild our society from the ruins demolished by Wall Street, Congress and the White House, we now know that moral leadership cannot be found in any of these corrupted institutions. As we fight to defeat the predatory mindset from which they operate, we will simultaneously instruct and hopefully inoculate the young against this aggressive disease.
