Greed Divides, but Will it Conquer?
Forget which political party is winning these days. Partisanship may well be a distraction for what’s really going on beneath the table, where the consistent victor is “greed.”
“Greed is good,” Gordon Gekko giddily extolled in the movie “Wall Street,” capturing the hubris of the 80’s and earning Michael Douglas the coveted Academy Award.
But as greed threatens to consume American ideals, we must ask ourselves: Can “good” stage a comeback to beat greed? Where’s Charlie Sheen when you need him? Can we turn back the clock and give him an award too?
Speaking of the past, the Founding Fathers incorporated a healthy measure of realism in their designs for our system of governance, cognizant that if our politics could align the good of the country with the self-interests of individuals a true win-win would be generated.
To that point, James Madison wrote in 1788: “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”
Our Founders’ foresight would fuel America’s rise from upstart rebellion to global powerhouse. In sync with American ideals, greed was pretty good.
But in recent times – as corporations, private interest groups and coalitions have amassed rights and privileges once reserved for voting citizens, their vast resources have throttled Washington, bringing into question whether the good of the country remains in alignment with the self-interests of the forces in power.
Note that Madison referred to the interest of “man” – not “corporation” – being connected to constitutional rights; and he characterized government as a reflection of “human nature,” not “interest group nature.”
Admittedly, we humans have not only gluttonous – but tribal – tendencies. This collective avarice is at the heart of our fractious and paralyzing partisanship, driven by campaign contributions of clannish party supporters, typically comprised of entrenched corporate and special interest groups. Their conditional support is motivated by the expectation of reciprocal access, influence in policymaking, and return on investment. With our representatives – and thus our government – no longer in the grip of individual voters, “we the people” must truly worry about abuses, not necessarily by the government infrastructure but by the self-interested, calculating cabals who manipulate it.
Current dramas in our democracy demonstrate how greed is usurping the American citizen’s power to do good for our nation because private corporate ambitions are at odds with the public’s communal needs.
In the health care reform saga, the insurance industry has poured millions into influencing the outcome. How much cash do uninsured Americans have to fight back with?
In the financial arena, when AIG and the banks were bailed out a treasure trove immediately left the country or was absorbed by bonuses. The people engineering the dubious transactions were mostly former Wall Street executives and their cronies, including Treasury Secretaries and Federal Reserve Chairmen. The deals are so complex they puzzle even seasoned financiers. As promised reforms loom, how can taxpayers trust they’re not being swindled? And will the powerful banking lobby succeed in diluting proposed regulations amidst reform fatigue?
Finally, there’s the debate surrounding taxation of unhealthy foods to combat obesity and fund health reforms. I’ve advocated for such taxes coupled with shifts in federal subsidies towards healthier foods. To preempt these measures, the American Beverage Association coalesced with like-minded groups to fund a campaign called Americans Against Food Taxes. They want people to rejoice in the unfettered freedom to get fat and sick on unhealthy, cheap foods. Convenient capitalists, they lament government interference when it comes to taxing their products but not when it comes to subsidizing their source ingredients. Ironically, my company was contacted for a proposal to help their campaign penetrate multicultural communities. When I explained I’d written in support of the taxes, I was told that my personal position wouldn’t matter to them. Ah…but you see…it matters to me.
This brief but telling experience illuminates the disconnect between the thriving narcissism of corporate greed and the imperiled integrity of personal values in America.
Greed is certainly in our human nature, as Madison acknowledged. But so is good. The question now – on every contentious reform and election before us – is whether we can find a way for our better nature to prevail?
To do so, we must either realign self-interest with the good of the country or abandon self-interest and act patriotically. If corporations and interest groups can’t do this, then we should constrain their ability to influence the decision making process, restoring the power to the individual. Only then will we assure that while greed may divide us, it will not conquer us.
Rudy Ruiz has been hailed as a cultural visionary. A published author and multicultural advocate, Ruiz is an acclaimed multicultural communications entrepreneur. He founded Red Brown and Blue as well as Interlex, one of the nation’s leading advocacy marketing agencies ranked by Ad Age as one of the Top US Agencies across all disciplines. Prior to that, Ruiz earned his BA in Government at Harvard College and his Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
