Op-ed: The Separation of Wealth and State

The Separation of Wealth and State:

“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil…”

A lot of people have praised the proclaimed re-separation of church and state since the general consensus after the last American administration held that faith should decidedly remain as far outside of the political spectrum as possible. I tend to agree; faith has little to no place in politics, though I adhere to this maxim for a different reason. While most would argue that the two don’t adequately mix, like oil and water per se, I liken their mixture more to that of adding lead to gold. And it’s not the politics I value. Adding politics to faith merely cheapens faith. If you believe something to be true, it’s independent of a majority vote, as former President Bush might tell you. Of course, things have changed since Bush’s consecutive terms. Faith’s reputation has been tarnished by the policies of government despite the fact that nothing of faith has changed. Nevertheless, professing adherents of faith are on the decline, being faced with the imminent ridicule of being labeled zealots, extremists, terrorists, or right-wing extremists as a consequence for confessing a belief in something that extends beyond sensual experiences.
However, in recent light, it has come, or should have come, to the collective attention span of the world populace that there are equal, if not greater, threats to private liberty than those of a strictly religious nature, even if the subject at hand is not too far removed.
It is high time that a discussion concerning the separation of wealth and state be instituted for the betterment of all humanity, hopefully before the economic powers that be send all of civilization into a spiral of destruction that will doubtlessly lead to desolation of far more than the ever-changing world we have known the past hundred years. Of course, such apocalyptic revelations often send people reluctantly clinging to the elements of faith they so quickly disregard when trials deem such profitable, but there’s that idea again, profit, wreaking havoc on my argument.
Even the former disestablishment of theocratic government had its roots in the abolishing of and redistribution of wealth and power out of the greedy vice grip of the few and into the shared responsibility of the laymen, and eventually laywomen, and perhaps one day into the outstretched hands of all humanity, but until then, distributed nonetheless to those who’ve suffered through to obtain the right of suffrage, but to what end?
Without the means to reside peacefully in a nation, free of the constant fear of sudden fiscal failure, or circumstantial material ruin, what matters disenfranchisement?
Conspiracy theories abound concerning the oligarchy of the finance elite, out to rule and enslave all the world through the power of the dwindling dollars and sense of the masses, and whether the theories are true or not, it remains the onus of the individual to rise above their own dependency on currencies and focus instead on what remains of value in society while it yet exists to cherish as more than a memory.
Much of the so-called developed nations of the world have utilized a perceived “right to owe” which has resulted in the impending crises of late with more to come.
You can argue all you want for or against certain policies, on either side of the aisle in congress, plotted wherever you wish on the bipartisan line, or if you are lucky enough to live where an axis exists, place yourself anywhere among the quadrants, it matters not so long as all of the area exists as a game-board for the uber-rich.
That I struggle to place my piece on the cross is my own concern. That I continually look for things more valuable than money in life is my own endeavor, for better or worse, one that I think may prove viable. I invite others to do likewise; to better inform myself, and one another, on the finer aspects of how to live this temporal life free.

Op-ed: Neither a borrower nor a lender be…

Neither a borrower nor a lender be… Nov. 2008

I live in this country by choice. I am a resident alien hailing from Canada. I’ve spent the last few years getting my BA and pursuing my own version of the American dream. It’s a dream that I just recently woke up from.

I came back to America after spending four months in Africa with two concrete concepts firmly entrenched in my thoughts: a renewed appreciation of the lands I can call home, mainly for the nigh-limitless opportunities provided herein, and an acute awareness that I owe, another luxury afforded me by the ample sustenance of first-world living. We do not realize it, but our capacity to owe is a luxury in and of itself, which we are in immediate danger of losing, perhaps to all of our gain.

The talk of the town, and by town I mean New York, and by New York I mean America, and I include Canada because most of what Canada discusses is America, is debt. Like most luxuries, we took debt for granted, and now it’s time to pay. What is to be done? Individuals owe. Families owe. Now some of the biggest corporations and even financial institutions in America owe! And all of these are relying on a government, that’s done nothing but owe since its inception, for salvation to the tune of $700,000,000,000.00.

On average Americans save a negative figure of what they earn. Based on that information, having been driven into a culture of debt, where we’re encouraged to build credit, use credit, and die with more stuff still in the wrapper than we could have ever used in life, banks thought it profitable that they should provide loans to America, without any proof of income, or assets, to anyone who asked, honestly thinking that an over-inflated housing market could bear the burden of the costs of living of an under-paid, under-employed, populace. Now they need help?

Even after the 700 Billion dollar magic wand was waved the problem remains. Average Americans (read political buzz word: “Main Street”) are still feeling the walls closing in. Not just the fragile walls of their homes, but the once sturdy edifices of their financial institutions, the walls of their cubicles (provided they haven’t already squeezed them out) and the walls of their Street Journals, harboring gloom and doom in spite of prospective political saviors’ sound bites.

There’s one solution to this problem. It’s one few want to talk about, perhaps because it’s such a revolutionary approach to financial workings, perhaps because it’s uncommon sense, I don’t know. I last heard it from an Englishman in Africa when this was still a predicted crisis, and not the full-blown catastrophe it has become. If I remember my Hamlet, he could in fact be borrowing from another Englishman, a Bard, nevertheless, I’m going to paraphrase, as I can’t remember the exact phrasing, but it went something like this:

STOP SPENDING MONEY THAT YOU DON’T HAVE!

What do you think? Perhaps we should give it a try.

B.F. Burden