Most of the time, reducing an issue to one subject is counterproductive. It really doesn't help us to understand most issues. That is because most of today's issues are complex that involve many parts.
For example, before the last Presidential election, a friend told me that what needs to be fixed in our nation is the economy. My friend believed that once we fix the economy, most if not all of our other major problems could be easily fixed. And in one sense, the economy is doing better under Trump. Then again, the economy was also improving during the latter part of Obama's tenure. However, the cost of Trump's contribution to improving the economy puts the future of the environment at greater risk than before, continues to increase wealth disparity, and has caused the National deficit to spike which could be used as a justification for future cuts to entitlements.
However, there is an important job that the newly elected Democratic Representatives must tackle before they try to accomplish anything else: they must change the culture of the government and the nation. Will that eradicate all of our problems? No. But changing the culture is a prerequisite affecting real change in our nation.
What is the current culture about? It is about the maximizing of one's wealth. And we don't just see that maxim followed in the corporate world. If we look at free agency in professional sports, players who are free agents are expected to negotiate in order to get the most money they can from whatever team they choose to sign with. And while we should be somewhat tolerant of those who belong to the lower economic classes who try to maximize their earnings in order to survive, players who are paid tens of millions or even millions of dollars per year don't need to maximize their own profits. When players, many of whom we are taught to regard as heroes, do that, more and more people are inspired to follow their examples.
What is wrong with the ethic of maximizing one's profits? The problem lies in the fact that such an ethic is a cannibalizing ethic in that it devours all other sets of values. Those who consistently believe in maximizing their own profits must logically disregard any laws that reduce their profits. If they are logically consistent, they will break laws so long as the violation of those laws and getting caught produces higher profits than not breaking those laws. Thus, all other ethics and values exist at the pleasure of the maximization of profits and that is why we can describe the maximization of profits as a cannibalizing ethic. .
No doubt we see the maximization of profits ethic as being the predominant ethic of the business world. And since those newly elected Democrats do not participate in the sector of the business world, there is not much that the newly elected Democrats can do change the culture there. But they will be participating in the writing and passing of government legislation and that is where these new representatives can make their first impact.
How can they do that? They can do that not only in what legislation they write or vote on, they can do that by holding their colleagues, especially fellow Democrats, accountable when they favor legislation in order to fill their own pockets. These new Democrats must not only vote the convictions they campaigned on, they must push their colleagues to let their votes be determined by morals and values rather than by dollars and favors.
Here we should note that we basically have 2 major secular sources of values built into American society. Those sources consist of our Democracy and our Free Market. Those sources, for the most part, produce disjoint sets of values. While the former source promotes a certain degree of egalitarianism, the latter promotes privilege earned by successfully competing with others. While the former should provide a number of unconditional benefits, the latter earns privileges. Those who seek to maximize their profits are also seeking to maximize the privileges that come with more wealth.
What is interesting to consider is to guess which of those 2 secular sources of values are more important to us. It is very easy to answer that. When values from Democracy are more important to us, then those values have a growing effect on how the Free Market operates. The result is that we become more willing to share power in and wealth from the workplace with those in lower positions. When values from the Free Market become more important to us than values from Democracy, then competing to conquer the political landscape to rule over others becomes more important to us. And when making deals with private sector elites in order to defeat one's opponents becomes paramount, then it is clear that values from the Free Market are more important to us. This desire to conquer results not just in an ever increasing reluctance to share political power with those from other political parties, ideologies, and fellow citizens, it soothes any disturbed consciences of those who feel guilty about making our Democracy all about competition.
Our Democracy is not just about winning the majority, that is what our democratic processes revolve around. Democracy is also a state of being for society where how society is shared is vital. Democracy occurs when society is equally shared with others. It is about having self-restraint so that even when one has the political power to rule over others, one doesn't because one sees society as belonging equally to one's opponents. And here we should note that those who are most vulnerable to not having an equal belonging to society are those who are marginalized in society. They have included non-whites, females, and the LGBT community.
So the newly elected Democrats have a substantial challenge to meet. The question becomes whether they can even recognize the real challenge that faces them let alone meet that challenge.
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