At the moment I am reading a particularly boring book. I borrowed it and I am determined to finish it, because it is a good idea, although I think the author fails to get to the point in the title, which is “Economics of Good and Evil.”
It’s good that someone has raised the point, at least. Since the economy is an arbitrary, man-made system it can be whatever we want, and the fact that it is not being used for good, for the common betterment of humankind, is horrifying.
Anyway, another thing the author does that irritates me is he just fills in lots and lots of space with quotes, whole Bible passages and stuff. On the other hand, a few years ago I went back to re-read some books by Buckminster Fuller, trying to figure out why nobody reads him any more, and he NEVER quotes anybody else, which is just as bad. It’s great to have original ideas, it’s great to analyze other’s great ideas, but there’s an ideal range.
Anyway, it was one of the quotes that led my thoughts down a different track. In a play by the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes, which was apparently about women taking over the government and hijinx ensues, sort of an ancient version of Wild in the Streets. The lines were:
There is a legend of ancient time
that all our foolish plans and vain conceits
are overlured to work the public good
and I’m not sure, maybe it was a typo and it’s supposed to be over-ruled, but either way, the idea is ‘Gee, what if government actually was set up somehow that it would work for the public good, and not just for the benefit of the wealthy and their corrupt, lickspittle political toadies? Imagine the paradise we could have.’
It’s not such an original idea, but it’s impressive to me (and somehow reassuring) that this was written over 2,000 years ago. People already had that concept.
We haven’t got that kind of system, in reality, but the idea has been around forever, and someday, someday, we will make it work.
