The Woodworker Allegory

The Woodworker Allegory

by Christopher Morris

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Background:

I just finished an online ethics course at my college. The feedback i received from my professor and fellow classmates are what inspired me to start a blog in the first place. "Small D-blog" is for political journalism, punditry, Op-Eds and academics. 

Ethics Class Discussion topic:

Do you think that modern American society promotes self-interested moral behavior? Do you think that this is a bad thing?

Response from a Classmate that will remain nameless - Anonymous:

I do think that American society promotes self-interested behavior.  I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing!  I think that we should worry about ourselves.  Sure, there are people in the world who have awful lives, with far less rights than we as Americans have, but knowing this does not shrink someone's personal plight.  People want to have the best lives that they can have.  Good for them.  I do not think that people who are ambitious and interested in their own success should be criticized for it.  Not everyone wants to give back.  Some people who want to give back are badgered by charity after charity for money, and they can't necessarily give to all of them.  Just because somebody is their own top priority does not mean that they are a bad person. 

My Dissenting Opinion: The woodworker allegory

I do not disagree with all of your points. I agree that "people who are ambitious and interested in their own success should (not) be criticized" and of course there are “people in the world who have awful lives, with far less rights than we as Americans have, but knowing this does not shrink someone's personal plight”. I think the previous quotes have much truth to them.  But before we start thinking on a global scale of fairness, lets ponder a national one.

 It would be too easy to point at investment bankers and Wall Street barons and criticize them for not "pitching in their fair share". So instead of a banker lets use the example of an independent wood worker.  This person makes furniture by hand, buying his or her own wood, carving it by hand and selling it to happy customers. The craftsman hard work leads him to much success. The wood worker's success is the payoff for countless hours of hard work. And if that person doesn’t want to "give back” to society so what? Why should they have to give anything to anyone? They, alone, earned their success, right?

 

Well this kind of thinking does not take into account many factors that led the wood worker to his or her success. Where this line of argument is short sighted is in the successful entrepreneur’s personal journey to success. Did society help this person? Lets say this person never took out subsidized student loans or grants, never received cash, food or heating assistance; Was this person helped out by anyone but themselves? Did the person receive anything from our American society?  The answer is undoubtedly YES:

Someone took the time to train and teach this person, most likely a teacher or professor that was paid in full, or in part, by the people of this country. Your theory would also dismiss a couple other facts; the goods and customers the woodworker directly benefitted from, had to travel to his workshop over roads that we, the people of the United States, paid to build and still pay to maintain. If this wood worker's shop caught on fire he would expect that firefighters, paid for by the people, would put out that fire.   The wood worker also does not have to generally worry about someone stealing his furniture because of our police, who are paid for by the tax paying people of this country (quick note: Taxpayers include anyone who buys anything in this country).

These obligations to the wood worker are part of the social contract that, in sum, contributes to our great American society.  At some level, all of us contribute to and benefit from this social contract.

The purpose of my woodworker allegory is to highlight that, in our great nation, reward comes with responsibility. Simply put, no one succeeds in this country entirely on his or her own.  The responsibility for those who have achieved success is merely to pay forward a small portion of what they themselves were indiscriminately afforded.

What if someone’s starting point was closer to success than another persons (being born rich rather than poor), surely the lucky man cannot be blamed for his luck, right?

Right, however there are things that need to be taken into consideration when dictating what is fair and what is not. Important questions need to be asked. Is the poor-born American afforded similar, if not the same opportunities to personally succeed in life that the rich-born American is? (Obviously not)

When a person who succeeds does not recognize the help they have gotten along the way, they become prideful, selfish and greedy.  I am not talking about a complete leveling of this “playing field”; this is an extreme and unrealistic request that neither most people nor I expect or argue for. But there needs to be some leveling of the mere opportunity to succeed, if for nothing else to ensure that every opportunity does not just automatically go to a privileged few.  This is the true American dream, opportunity for all.  

WHO IS PAUL RYAN (and why do you care)?

WHO IS PAUL RYAN (and why do I care)?
By Chris Morris
edited by Rachel Cruppi
Rochester, NY
Saturday, August 11th 2012
8:14 PM

Well, you should care (or at least know) because when you evoke your right to vote come November (assuming you are even going to vote), you will either be voting for Ryan or against Ryan.  That’s right, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has picked his running mate.  Congressman Paul Ryan(R – Wisconsin) is 42 years old and was elected to the House of Representatives at the spry age of 28.  He is best known for proposing large cuts to spending, slashing taxes and being popular within the Republicans circles. But before delving into Mitts pick, a little pertinent history first on Paul Ryan and the Medicare debate.

 You may remember two highly visible rounds of political fisticuffs’-turned-fiasco between (who else) the Republicans and the Democrats, throughout 2011:

Chronologically, the second fight centered on the debt ceiling debate. (Come on…you know, the political debacle that pushed Standard & Poor's to strip America of its AAA credit rating [standardandpoors.com]).

 But even prior to all the debt ceiling madness there were the very heated and very publicized budget debates.  The budget they were arguing over was not the current budget, but rather the budget for the prior fiscal year. During this time Congressman Paul Ryan introduced his Roadmap for America's Future. This “Roadmap” is simply the most recent rebranding of what the right wingers have always wanted: huge cuts to entitlements, ending live saving regulations, and tax breaks for the very top income earners. However, there is one noticeable difference in this latest recycled republican rhetoric: Medicare. Certainly a subject worthy of discussion; for decades politicians on both sides of the aisle have avoided the “Medicare talk” like the plague, and for good reason.  This Pew Research Center graph lays out the wide margin of public’s support to keep entitlements intact and untouched.

  Paul Ryan’s budgetary vision (laid out in his “Roadmap”) would profoundly change Medicare as we know it. If Paul Ryan had the power to make his Roadmap the law of the land, our elderly and soon to be elderly loved ones would receive a coupon in place of their medical insurance. Paul Ryan called this coupon a “Voucher System” and claims it would “keep Medicare intact for generations to come.”

   What all this political jargon means is this: Ryan’s plan for Medicare is to privatize it.  This voucher/coupon system would provide elderly American Citizens a couple thousand-dollars in medical care every year. For example, Congressman Ryan described that the average voucher in 2021 for those citizens 65 years of age and older would be worth $5900 (that’s in 2010 dollars).  Inflation and the continued bloating of healthcare costs are left unaccounted for.  Considering that the generation most effected by this dramatic shift, the baby boomers, paid more than any previous generation into this pot of social security and Medicare, this is simply not enough. To the baby boomers and to the following elderly demo, Ryan is simply saying, “too bad.”

  Once the $5900 limit is reached the costs will shift onto Medicare beneficiaries.  This leaves many of our mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers (not to mention all of us) to battle the high and growing costs of healthcare on our own.  I am 28 years old, I have time to plan for a change like this, but many who are in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s are not only counting on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, they have been paying into these systems for decades. So Ryan would like to solve our fiscal problems by making grandma pay extra (and by extra, I mean most, if not all of what she owns) when, heaven forbid, she comes down with heart disease or cancer.

Medicare is one of the most successful entitlement programs in American history. Passed by the US president John F. Kennedy in 1965, this benefit has lowered, and sustained elderly poverty to its lowest levels ever, even in these times of recession. The demographic least hit by the 2008 financial crisis is the elderly. Medicare and social security played a bigger role in this outcome than any other factor. The Pew Research Center even refers to the current economic situation (2008 to now) as “Not Your Grandfather's Recession – Literally” and has the data to prove it [pewresearch.org]. 

Now back to the point; Romney’s pick for VP... 

Paul Ryan is a somewhat logical choice for a running mate for the Romney campaign. Ryan is a relatively young political star, looks like a president you would see on TV or in the movies circa 1990, and is a celebrity among the right wing.  He is a staunch conservative and a politician Ayn Rand would be proud of.   In many ways, Congressman Paul Ryan is the ideal conservative VP candidate.  However, winning most popular at the Ayn Rand Society is one thing; winning the 270 electoral votes required to take the White House is another.

Paul Ryan is not a safe bet, in fact some say he is a down right gamble for the Romney campaign. Journalist and blogger Ezra Klein of the Washington Post pointed this out on his blog post this morning: “You don't make a risky pick like Paul Ryan if you think the fundamentals favor your candidate. You make a risky pick like Paul Ryan if you think the fundamentals don't favor your candidate.”   Ezra is pointing to the motivations behind Romney’s pick for VP.

In my assertion, Romney’s motivations behind the Paul Ryan pick mirrors 2008 McCain Camp’s decision to pick Sarah Palin.  Romney’s camp just vetted their VP pick more thoroughly.  To be fair, comparing Paul Ryan to Sarah Palin is like comparing the Miami Heat to the Harlem globetrotters. The Globetrotters are essentially performance art comedians who are good at basketball. The Miami Heat is a pro basketball team; they mean business and won the 2012 NBA championship. Paul Ryan has been elected multiple times as a congressman, has help to consolidated unorganized and off-message congressional conservatives into a political force that has all but stopped legislation from passing the house and helped the Republicans sweep the House of Representatives in 2010 midterm elections. Sarah Palin appears as a pundit on fox news, gives performances in the art of ‘winging it’ and quit the highest office she ever held, Governor of Alaska, before the end of her first term. So yes, I am saying Ryan is a pro and Palin is a clown.  However, just like basketball fans’ similar love for the comedian and pro teams, conservatives admire these two politicians for similar reasons. They are all about Ayn Randian conservatism; in other words they are extremely right wing.  Romney’s choice of VP speaks volumes to where he and his camp believe their campaign sits with the American people. Essentially this is another Republican presidential campaign gamble and a desperate attempt to save their party from the deficit left by George W. Bush and the mess created by the political railroading of legitimate legislation since 2010 by congressional Republicans.  This VP choice by the Romney camp reeks of desperation.

Source material:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1223/not-your-grandfathers-recession-literally

http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-11/paul-ryan-budget-medicare/56963864/1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/11/paul-ryan-will-be-mitt-romneys-vice-presidential-pick-heres-seven-thoughts-on-what-that-means/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gongloff/federal-debt-ceiling_b_1695876.html

http://www.democraticleader.gov/blog/?p=4854