Last year, when the Occupy movement pitched tents around the country, I had hoped they would articulate the frustration I've been feeling about political polarization and economic exploitation in the USA. They only compounded my frustration. As much as I hate the avarice of the rich, I deplore the avarice of the left. Rich people take vig from other people's money. Leftists parade other people's neediness, commodify it, and pass the collection plate. Jerry's kids get their 15 minutes. Jerry loses a night's sleep and gets more than a fair return from it. Jerry Lewis is the least of the ringmasters of "gimps on parade." But I digress....
Today, I was reading Shelby Foote's account of the Seven Days. It is now the middle of the 150th anniversary of the same. And somehow, my mind wandered, as it will, to the problem of avarice, and wondering why it ought be a problem in America at all. Of course, some would equate sugarplum dreams with the engine of our economy, both the consumers for more and better, and for producers, who, in an ideal world, only get rich by doing stuff that enriches others. One person making another person poor against his will is not "free market economics" -- it's theft. Of course there are plenty of people quite willing on their own to become or remain poor. And I wonder, why in America? Isn't it enough to be Americans? What would we prefer to being Americans? Where would we rather live? What system would we rather be a part of? I'm sure others would jump to this or that alternative in a heartbeat. But at what cost?
I can't say I'm not interested in getting a bigger share of what's around me. But then I remind myself that I got more than a fair share of the world's riches as an accident of birth. I don't need to lobby for more, and wonder why those around me seem so intent on doing so. I want to talk to people around me about their thoughts on making the world, the country, the state, and the community a better place -- not in reference to gratifying desire, but in reference to looking around me and delighting in what I see. In his book Inventing America, Gerry Wills spoke of our Founder's philosophical celebration of the sense of delight -- and its economical value to us as co-participants, not proprietors. Do the Koch brothers, so intent on reshaping the world, delight in what they see -- people desperate to work cheap, accept pollution, and borrow from usurers to sate appetites manufactured for them with far more skill and zeal than for the manufacture of the goods offered to assuage the hunger?
Finally, to the point. According to Classical Liberalism (the kind George Allen celebrates, forged in a series of revolutions in England in the 16th century) the people need to be consulted in matters of taxation, conscription, and legislation. And in that context, my Representative in Congress is the one who speaks for me and my neighbors. The Fifth district is a big neighborhood. I want to get to know it better, its rich heritage (home of both Monticello and Appomattox) and its people. And perhaps in consulting that heritage and people's unselfish aspirations for a better America, and sharing my thoughts on the same, I'll be doing something about the frustration and restlessness and, honestly, dispiritedness I've been feeling even since the impeachment of President Clinton led me to care about what people in government do in my name.
I'm gonna get on my bicycle, and plan and execute a few little day trips and maybe some overnights and longer. I want to meet my neighbors and bask in my heritage. And I'll lose a few pounds in the process.
