(Week 14 - Monday, Nov. 10)
Everything evolves, and so does this column. The initial concept was to put out a daily message of four to five hundred words that could be read over "morning coffee" as a daily antidote to the standard media fare. In practice I have found that these offerings tend to take on their own natural length, which turns out to be roughly twice what was originally contemplated. It has required a major exercise in discipline to keep them within even those bounds, as anything that touches upon the topic of money tends to swell in the enumeration. Truncating or dividing the topic arbitrarily tends to cut the heart out of it, and so I let whatever is wanting to be written have its way. The upshot is that I have produced twice the amount of verbiage that I intended, and keeping up that pace is not sustainable.
Most of the feedback I get indicates that while much, if not most, of the readership has kept up with the reading, they too sometimes fall behind, and the unread email mounts up. There seems to be on their part a determination to keep up, as the columns as a series represent a systematic and carefully measured development of thought. If a link is missed, something is lost.
Taking this all into account, I have decided to reduce the frequency of the installments to three per week; those coming on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This column is the first of the new rotation. I anticipate that the length of the typical column will be approximately the same, but the less frantic pace will leave me more time to devote to producing each one, plus attending the correspondences and dialogues which the columns have been a seed for starting. I have tried to be responsive to communications that have been sent to me, but have fallen far behind in spite of strenuous efforts. I apologize for that. I look forward to catching up on my backlog and being more responsive in the future.
All this said, this effort is not about writing columns. It is about precipitating change. We are at a juncture in the life of our nation where the portent of that sentiment has never been more acute that now. The providential turn represented by the latest election has released a breadth and depth of hope into the world that, if harnessed in the right way, could provide the boost to at last overcome the opposition to permanently transformative change in the realm of money. This would be truly the culmination of a battle of the ages.
It is not mere coincidence that our new President will take office at the height of the greatest financial crisis the nation, and the world, has yet faced. Indeed, the urgency of the matter will not even wait for him to take his oath, as it is pressing down upon him even now. It is a foreboding sign that already he is being hedged about by a coterie of heavy-hitting financial advisors that will surely impress upon him the importance of going even deeper into "debt" as a way of resolving the "debt" crisis. I do not say that such voices should not be heard, but truly liberating virtues of public money need at last have their hearing.
If the promise of the moment bounces back unrequited in the unfolding of events, then the present euphoric mood will turn upon the People as it metamorphoses into the bitterness of cynicism, and our state will be at the last incalculably worse than at the first.
What is more, nothing will be changed by reading; only by acting. We Americans are doers. That is what we bring to the world. What then to do? That is for each to determine out of his or her own inspiration.
As a thought, there are practical initiatives that can be pursued in concert with others. One is the Concord Resolution, which is an effort to recreate in our time essentially what was done by the colonial government of Massachusetts in 1690; that is, to issue public money in service to the commonweal of the People, as the alternative to relying on private money, which would make of the colony a debtor to the moneylenders. This Resolution has been reworked of late to make it more focused on the transference of the money-creation franchise itself from the private banking system to the U.S. Treasury. It has also been presented in such a way as to encourage others around the nation to introduce parallel resolutions in their communities. It is our hope that this could become a movement.
It is incumbent upon me to address the matter of resources. I have, and will continue, to offer up the column, and the fruits of all other initiatives that I am engaged in, free of charge, and remain true to that commitment regardless of whatever personal sacrifices it entails. That said, the effort cannot move forward without resources. To date that burden has fallen upon a very limited circle of people who have effectively emptied themselves out to insure that the work, at least on a minimal level, continues to move forward. The level of critical work that needs to be done with respect to the monetary sphere far exceeds the resources available to perform it. It may not be too much to say that this is a tragedy of our time.
Help is needed in researching specific topics on money, and I would be willing to speak to anyone who is willing to lend a hand.
Basic material help of many kinds is sorely needed. This, of course, includes financial assistance. Funds contributed to the effort become in effect monies that are consecrated to the liberation of the whole of humanity from the ravages of a bogus "debt". This is not simply a worthy sentiment, but a spiritual principle that works through money itself. I will have more to say on that subject in future columns.
Finally I would express my appreciation for all who have taken an interest in these discourses. I have received hundreds of communications posing questions, offering critiques, or lending encouragement. I am grateful for every one. In the future it is my hope that I can be more responsive, and tighten up the time lag in the dialogue.
The time for action on the transformation of the way our society creates, issues and controls money is now. I encourage each to find their own path of commitment according to their own authentic calling. For those with ears to hear.
Thank you for your patient and considerate attention.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
Monday, November 10, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Column #78 REGAINING CONTROL OF OUR DESTINY
(Week 13 - Saturday, Nov. 8)
In "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", historian R. H. Tawney observed:
"Few who consider dispassionately the facts of social history will be disposed to deny that the exploitation of the weak by the powerful, organized for purposes of economic gain, buttressed by imposing systems of law, and screened by decorous draperies of virtuous sentiment and resounding rhetoric, has been a permanent feature in the life of most communities that the world has yet seen."
It is time to arrest this tragic litany. Throughout history there have been many struggles to win the rights, protect the dignity, and insure the welfare of mankind. Unfailingly, these demands have been resisted by a reactionary establishment whose power is rooted in the economic order of their day. It at first denies, then stonewalls, then grudgingly accommodates the demands. Eventually it preempts and incorporates the changes for its own devices, as part of the "imposing systems of law" and "decorous draperies of virtuous sentiment and resounding rhetoric" with which the system props itself up.
Chattel slavery is abolished, universal suffrage is won, the rights of labor are established, a social safety net is laid out, environmental protections are enacted, and a multitude of other reforms are accomplished. A black man is elected as President of the nation (alternately a woman nearly elected Vice-President), and the euphoria of the moment transcends party lines. Our society indeed moves ahead by quantum leaps.
Still, there is something crucial we are not getting at. That is that the energy of our civilization, and in turn its social, political and economic structure, is still controlled from the top for the benefit of the few, rather than percolating up from the bottom for the welfare of the People. Indeed, it may be argued that the economic polarization is getting ever more extreme. What is more, one could make a case that we, as a species, are lurching dangerously close to self-annihilation on many fronts, from resource exhaustion, to disease pandemics, to species extinction, to loss of genetic diversity, to environmental poisoning, to nuclear holocaust, to climate change, to moral degradation, to (fill in the blank).
The reason for this, I believe, is that we have not properly recognized the bedrock importance of the nature and control of the monetary system. Money is an abstraction. It is weightless, colorless, odorless, ephemeral and intangible in every physical way; yet is seems to control everything. It is the essential energy, the life force, the prana, the chi of the system.
To draw a medical analogy, if a pathogen attacks a body, it does so through the blood, the fluids, the nerve synapses, and other processes by which it circulates energy to live and grow. If a pathological agenda attacks a socio/political/economic body, it does so through the monetary system for the same reason. This is not just another issue, but a little recognized reality that underlies all issues. We have come to an unprecedented point in history where it can no longer await its turn for attention. Humankind has reached the stage where we have the power to threaten our very existence through many avenues. We must at last gain control of our own energy processes.
Expanding the medical analogy, in a material sense a dead body may contain every element it had when it was alive, down to the most infinitesimal cell structure. What has changed is that the connection with the intangible energy that animated every fiber of its being has dropped below viability and ceased to function.
An economy is much like that. The physical part abides. The sun beams down, the rains fall, the plants grow, the infrastructure persists, and the hands, hearts and minds remain willing and able to do the work. This is equally true in times of boom and bust alike. What changes is this ephemeral abstraction which seems to control everything: the monetary system.
Money is a paradox. It is nothing, yet it is everything. We must finally transcend that paradox if the human race is to gain control of its own destiny. In doing so, we will at once transform the debate on all issues, from an impasse in which we appear to be checkmated by lack of funds, to an open-ended march to the future with all the physical and human resources we can mobilize. Money will cease to be a bludgeon that hinders or drives the social order. It will instead become a superconductor that transfers energy efficiently and equitably though it.
When we get fully into this process we will be dealing with, not just finances, but the transformation of our whole civilization. It is the economic dimension of a larger key to crack the whole mess we are in wide open. We would at last break out of the "debt-money" straightjacket, and dispel the Federal-deficit sword of Damocles. Then we will start to get a handle on our other seemingly intractable problems; social, political, ecological, agricultural, urban, rural, education, health care, or whatever. Living morality will merge with common-sense practicality as we begin to reclaim the creativity, civility and humaneness of our civilization.
For those with the vision to see this represents, not merely a solution for an economic problem, but also the opening of a new horizon; one which could light up the imagination of a whole new generation. To be sure, the audacity of the prospect is intimidating, but if we approach it with grace, determination and aplomb, it may turn out to be our nation's greatest adventure yet.
I saw in the youthful faces of those gathered in Chicago Tuesday evening a deep yearning for what might be. Let us not foreclose on their hope for the future by failing to act.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
In "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", historian R. H. Tawney observed:
"Few who consider dispassionately the facts of social history will be disposed to deny that the exploitation of the weak by the powerful, organized for purposes of economic gain, buttressed by imposing systems of law, and screened by decorous draperies of virtuous sentiment and resounding rhetoric, has been a permanent feature in the life of most communities that the world has yet seen."
It is time to arrest this tragic litany. Throughout history there have been many struggles to win the rights, protect the dignity, and insure the welfare of mankind. Unfailingly, these demands have been resisted by a reactionary establishment whose power is rooted in the economic order of their day. It at first denies, then stonewalls, then grudgingly accommodates the demands. Eventually it preempts and incorporates the changes for its own devices, as part of the "imposing systems of law" and "decorous draperies of virtuous sentiment and resounding rhetoric" with which the system props itself up.
Chattel slavery is abolished, universal suffrage is won, the rights of labor are established, a social safety net is laid out, environmental protections are enacted, and a multitude of other reforms are accomplished. A black man is elected as President of the nation (alternately a woman nearly elected Vice-President), and the euphoria of the moment transcends party lines. Our society indeed moves ahead by quantum leaps.
Still, there is something crucial we are not getting at. That is that the energy of our civilization, and in turn its social, political and economic structure, is still controlled from the top for the benefit of the few, rather than percolating up from the bottom for the welfare of the People. Indeed, it may be argued that the economic polarization is getting ever more extreme. What is more, one could make a case that we, as a species, are lurching dangerously close to self-annihilation on many fronts, from resource exhaustion, to disease pandemics, to species extinction, to loss of genetic diversity, to environmental poisoning, to nuclear holocaust, to climate change, to moral degradation, to (fill in the blank).
The reason for this, I believe, is that we have not properly recognized the bedrock importance of the nature and control of the monetary system. Money is an abstraction. It is weightless, colorless, odorless, ephemeral and intangible in every physical way; yet is seems to control everything. It is the essential energy, the life force, the prana, the chi of the system.
To draw a medical analogy, if a pathogen attacks a body, it does so through the blood, the fluids, the nerve synapses, and other processes by which it circulates energy to live and grow. If a pathological agenda attacks a socio/political/economic body, it does so through the monetary system for the same reason. This is not just another issue, but a little recognized reality that underlies all issues. We have come to an unprecedented point in history where it can no longer await its turn for attention. Humankind has reached the stage where we have the power to threaten our very existence through many avenues. We must at last gain control of our own energy processes.
Expanding the medical analogy, in a material sense a dead body may contain every element it had when it was alive, down to the most infinitesimal cell structure. What has changed is that the connection with the intangible energy that animated every fiber of its being has dropped below viability and ceased to function.
An economy is much like that. The physical part abides. The sun beams down, the rains fall, the plants grow, the infrastructure persists, and the hands, hearts and minds remain willing and able to do the work. This is equally true in times of boom and bust alike. What changes is this ephemeral abstraction which seems to control everything: the monetary system.
Money is a paradox. It is nothing, yet it is everything. We must finally transcend that paradox if the human race is to gain control of its own destiny. In doing so, we will at once transform the debate on all issues, from an impasse in which we appear to be checkmated by lack of funds, to an open-ended march to the future with all the physical and human resources we can mobilize. Money will cease to be a bludgeon that hinders or drives the social order. It will instead become a superconductor that transfers energy efficiently and equitably though it.
When we get fully into this process we will be dealing with, not just finances, but the transformation of our whole civilization. It is the economic dimension of a larger key to crack the whole mess we are in wide open. We would at last break out of the "debt-money" straightjacket, and dispel the Federal-deficit sword of Damocles. Then we will start to get a handle on our other seemingly intractable problems; social, political, ecological, agricultural, urban, rural, education, health care, or whatever. Living morality will merge with common-sense practicality as we begin to reclaim the creativity, civility and humaneness of our civilization.
For those with the vision to see this represents, not merely a solution for an economic problem, but also the opening of a new horizon; one which could light up the imagination of a whole new generation. To be sure, the audacity of the prospect is intimidating, but if we approach it with grace, determination and aplomb, it may turn out to be our nation's greatest adventure yet.
I saw in the youthful faces of those gathered in Chicago Tuesday evening a deep yearning for what might be. Let us not foreclose on their hope for the future by failing to act.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
Friday, November 7, 2008
Column #77 PLANTING TIME
(Week 13 - Friday, Nov. 7)
The only time one can affect what type of tree will grow is when one selects and plants the seedling. So it is in the political process.
A critical lesson I learned from my years of political activism is that once the campaigning starts, even in its pre-public stages, the chance for fundamentally affecting its direction has effectively passed. By then the decision about why a candidate is running is set, the early money attached to expectations has started to flow, and the themes and aspirations of the candidacy have been virtually cast in cement. The only things left to work out are how they will be reflected in the talking points and campaign strategies.
Once a candidate has made the plunge into the frenzied pace of running for office, he or she will have precious little time for input or reflection. To expect that any major change in direction can be effected is unrealistic. The deliberative pretense of the electoral process, with its glad-handing photo-ops and staged "town meetings", is a charade. If one would be so uncouth as to pose a question, however cogent, that is not within acceptable bounds, he or she will be made to feel as the intruder who released flatulence into the room. Candidates on the trail are not interested in going out into the public to discover what the people think. Rather, they have already determined what the public ought to think, and the formidable machinery of campaigning is geared to effecting that end.
The problem is not so much the venality of the candidates themselves. How could they do otherwise given the ordeal we put them through so that they might demonstrate their mettle to our satisfaction? This is not a process that supports earnest exchange or conversation, so it is futile to expect it.
If there is any real deliberative process that does go on, it happens well before the campaigning starts. At that point politicians contemplating a run for the prize may well be involved in a discovery process. They may even be seeking inspiration. At the very least they are looking for those initial elements of support that can start the "momentum" ball rolling in their favor. In my experience it is at this very nascent stage that they are accessible, and looking for ideas. This phenomenon varies, of course, and career pols tend to be in a more-or-less campaigning mode virtually all of the time, but if there is any openness and flexibility possible in the situation, it will be in the formative pre-campaign stages.
If one would hope to plant the seeds of a monetary dialogue in particular, this early open-endedness is crucial. If the candidate is indeed a seeker of truth (I believe that there are a few, but we tend not to recognize them because we treat them badly) there will at best be a narrow window of opportunity to gain a deep hearing. If it is not seized upon, then virtually every word, thought and position that comes after will be rooted in a socio/political/economic culture that springs from the private-bank-loan transaction upon which the social order is founded. The usual, but spurious, intellectual cornerstones related to "balancing the budget", "running the government like a business", "paying down the 'debt' so our children won't have to", creating "economic growth" (a euphemism under the current system for "borrowing" more money), the "un-affordability" of human services, and so forth, will be immediately set, and the argumentative structure of the candidates' appeal will be built on top of them. After that, they are almost helpless to fundamentally change their direction even if they "see the light" and reach a different conviction in some greater or lesser degree.
This immediate post-election period, then, is the season for planting the seed of the tree. After such a long and tedious election cycle, the People will almost universally be inclined to turn to the more personal business of celebrating the upcoming holiday season. Who could blame them?
But, the power of money never sleeps, the demand for "interest" payments is unrelenting, and whatever potential the age of Obama represents is being undermined even now. Despite our undeniably momentous achievement, we can be sure that we as a nation are being set up by the seductive allure of lucre (as after the War of Independence) for yet another "feeble sequel". If we cannot stay conscious, determined and vigilant throughout this transition, then it has, in critical ways, all been for naught.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
The only time one can affect what type of tree will grow is when one selects and plants the seedling. So it is in the political process.
A critical lesson I learned from my years of political activism is that once the campaigning starts, even in its pre-public stages, the chance for fundamentally affecting its direction has effectively passed. By then the decision about why a candidate is running is set, the early money attached to expectations has started to flow, and the themes and aspirations of the candidacy have been virtually cast in cement. The only things left to work out are how they will be reflected in the talking points and campaign strategies.
Once a candidate has made the plunge into the frenzied pace of running for office, he or she will have precious little time for input or reflection. To expect that any major change in direction can be effected is unrealistic. The deliberative pretense of the electoral process, with its glad-handing photo-ops and staged "town meetings", is a charade. If one would be so uncouth as to pose a question, however cogent, that is not within acceptable bounds, he or she will be made to feel as the intruder who released flatulence into the room. Candidates on the trail are not interested in going out into the public to discover what the people think. Rather, they have already determined what the public ought to think, and the formidable machinery of campaigning is geared to effecting that end.
The problem is not so much the venality of the candidates themselves. How could they do otherwise given the ordeal we put them through so that they might demonstrate their mettle to our satisfaction? This is not a process that supports earnest exchange or conversation, so it is futile to expect it.
If there is any real deliberative process that does go on, it happens well before the campaigning starts. At that point politicians contemplating a run for the prize may well be involved in a discovery process. They may even be seeking inspiration. At the very least they are looking for those initial elements of support that can start the "momentum" ball rolling in their favor. In my experience it is at this very nascent stage that they are accessible, and looking for ideas. This phenomenon varies, of course, and career pols tend to be in a more-or-less campaigning mode virtually all of the time, but if there is any openness and flexibility possible in the situation, it will be in the formative pre-campaign stages.
If one would hope to plant the seeds of a monetary dialogue in particular, this early open-endedness is crucial. If the candidate is indeed a seeker of truth (I believe that there are a few, but we tend not to recognize them because we treat them badly) there will at best be a narrow window of opportunity to gain a deep hearing. If it is not seized upon, then virtually every word, thought and position that comes after will be rooted in a socio/political/economic culture that springs from the private-bank-loan transaction upon which the social order is founded. The usual, but spurious, intellectual cornerstones related to "balancing the budget", "running the government like a business", "paying down the 'debt' so our children won't have to", creating "economic growth" (a euphemism under the current system for "borrowing" more money), the "un-affordability" of human services, and so forth, will be immediately set, and the argumentative structure of the candidates' appeal will be built on top of them. After that, they are almost helpless to fundamentally change their direction even if they "see the light" and reach a different conviction in some greater or lesser degree.
This immediate post-election period, then, is the season for planting the seed of the tree. After such a long and tedious election cycle, the People will almost universally be inclined to turn to the more personal business of celebrating the upcoming holiday season. Who could blame them?
But, the power of money never sleeps, the demand for "interest" payments is unrelenting, and whatever potential the age of Obama represents is being undermined even now. Despite our undeniably momentous achievement, we can be sure that we as a nation are being set up by the seductive allure of lucre (as after the War of Independence) for yet another "feeble sequel". If we cannot stay conscious, determined and vigilant throughout this transition, then it has, in critical ways, all been for naught.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Column #76 WHAT NOW?
(Week 13 - Thursday, Nov. 6)
This nation has from time-to-time passed through periods of incredible euphoria for the heights of achievement and sacrifice it has achieve. I sensed such a moment in the aftermath of Obama's victory amidst the throng in Grant Park in Chicago. The People basked briefly in the sublime light of fulfillment in their realization that this nation's very soul, though sullied by its passage through chattel slavery, Jim Crow and racial bigotry, had traversed the length of human mendacity in at last coming to elect as its leader the first African American President.
Few believe that being black, or of any other particular description, is a qualification for high office, but the identity of the candidate in this case cannot be separated from the momentousness of the attainment. Obama had endured the vicissitudes of the process, and that few seemed inclined to question that he had fairly "won" (whatever that means in politics) was somehow cathartic to the nation. Even John McCain could not help but dedicate the first words of his concession remarks to that historic achievement, and President Bush issued his own declaration commemorating the event. We have long been a people that prides itself on the belief that any new soul born into its fold could aspire to any position in the land. Until last night this promise was in some measure hypothetical, but the question is now laid to rest.
Had the election tipped the other way, an historic precedent would have been set in another direction; i.e. the first woman to attain to the office of the Vice-Presidency. There was a time when for even one party to entertain the idea of having a Catholic on the ticket was pushing the bounds of thinkable thought (as for JFK), but now it seems the breaking of the Protestant-white-males-only-need-apply rule was done it stride. Surely as a nation we have grown up.
What now?
The events of yesterday were in part a culmination of the American Revolution, but something crucial remains undone. After a heroic War of Independence announced with a noble Declaration and guided by "founding fathers" of high principles, one might think that the establishment of the right of the nation to create, issue and control its own money would be a foregone conclusion, but if history teaches anything it is to not underestimate the money power (the amorphous principality that the power of money, as co-opted by forces inimical to the commonweal, represents; it is not any particular persons, but persons of every class or description can, and do, fall under its spell). While the People have on occasion arisen to great heights of purpose and sacrifice, afterwards they understandably tend to turn back to their private lives. The money power, on the other hand, never rests, leading monetary historian Alexander Del Mar to observe ruefully:
"Never was a great historical event (the American Revolution) followed by a more feeble sequel. A nation arises to claim for itself liberty and sovereignty. It gains both of these ends by an immense sacrifice of blood and treasure. Then, when the victory is gained and secured, it hands the national credit (the authority to create money) over to private individuals, to do as they please with it."
This is the unfinished business of the American Revolution. It is what we will have to reckon with if the promise of the nation, so clearly reflected in the yearning faces seen last night in Chicago, is to be fully realized. None of this is to take away from the momentous import of what has already been achieved, but if We the People merely turn back to our private lives after the great mobilization of energy, resources and willingness to get involved represented by this election cycle, then our hope will have been allowed to expire in yet another "feeble sequel", and America's promise will in the end ring hollow.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
This nation has from time-to-time passed through periods of incredible euphoria for the heights of achievement and sacrifice it has achieve. I sensed such a moment in the aftermath of Obama's victory amidst the throng in Grant Park in Chicago. The People basked briefly in the sublime light of fulfillment in their realization that this nation's very soul, though sullied by its passage through chattel slavery, Jim Crow and racial bigotry, had traversed the length of human mendacity in at last coming to elect as its leader the first African American President.
Few believe that being black, or of any other particular description, is a qualification for high office, but the identity of the candidate in this case cannot be separated from the momentousness of the attainment. Obama had endured the vicissitudes of the process, and that few seemed inclined to question that he had fairly "won" (whatever that means in politics) was somehow cathartic to the nation. Even John McCain could not help but dedicate the first words of his concession remarks to that historic achievement, and President Bush issued his own declaration commemorating the event. We have long been a people that prides itself on the belief that any new soul born into its fold could aspire to any position in the land. Until last night this promise was in some measure hypothetical, but the question is now laid to rest.
Had the election tipped the other way, an historic precedent would have been set in another direction; i.e. the first woman to attain to the office of the Vice-Presidency. There was a time when for even one party to entertain the idea of having a Catholic on the ticket was pushing the bounds of thinkable thought (as for JFK), but now it seems the breaking of the Protestant-white-males-only-need-apply rule was done it stride. Surely as a nation we have grown up.
What now?
The events of yesterday were in part a culmination of the American Revolution, but something crucial remains undone. After a heroic War of Independence announced with a noble Declaration and guided by "founding fathers" of high principles, one might think that the establishment of the right of the nation to create, issue and control its own money would be a foregone conclusion, but if history teaches anything it is to not underestimate the money power (the amorphous principality that the power of money, as co-opted by forces inimical to the commonweal, represents; it is not any particular persons, but persons of every class or description can, and do, fall under its spell). While the People have on occasion arisen to great heights of purpose and sacrifice, afterwards they understandably tend to turn back to their private lives. The money power, on the other hand, never rests, leading monetary historian Alexander Del Mar to observe ruefully:
"Never was a great historical event (the American Revolution) followed by a more feeble sequel. A nation arises to claim for itself liberty and sovereignty. It gains both of these ends by an immense sacrifice of blood and treasure. Then, when the victory is gained and secured, it hands the national credit (the authority to create money) over to private individuals, to do as they please with it."
This is the unfinished business of the American Revolution. It is what we will have to reckon with if the promise of the nation, so clearly reflected in the yearning faces seen last night in Chicago, is to be fully realized. None of this is to take away from the momentous import of what has already been achieved, but if We the People merely turn back to our private lives after the great mobilization of energy, resources and willingness to get involved represented by this election cycle, then our hope will have been allowed to expire in yet another "feeble sequel", and America's promise will in the end ring hollow.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Column #75 ELECTION NIGHT MUSINGS
(Week 13 - Wednesday, Nov. 6)
I have spent the evening in the company of good friends with whom I watched the election returns on the television. At this late hour I am more in the mood to be personal than analytical. Election days are singular in their effect upon me. They are a unique hiatus between one rhythm of life and another. The campaigns are over, and now we go back to work.
I am a quintessential baby-boomer and child of my time. I grew up in what I experienced as the halcyon 50's, and came of age in the turbulent 60's. The thought that kept coming to me tonight is, "what a difference forty years can make". I was born and raised in Chicago, and grew up with familiarity with Grant Park, site of Obama's acceptance speech. Forty years ago it was the location of the massive disorder ("police riot" some called it) that swirled around the '68 Democratic Convention. How different that was compared to the virtual love fest that reigned there tonight.
I did not experience the mayhem in Grant Park in '68 because I was in the midst of another chaotic scene in Vietnam. From there it seemed that "the World" (what we called the states from "the Nam") was coming apart. Over a hundred cities, we were told, were beset by rioting and on fire. Martin Luther King had been murdered in the spring. Bobby Kennedy, who's last public utterance was "And now on to Chicago", met the same fate shortly after. This finished off, it seemed, the innocence of a generation, coming as it did less than five years after the assassination of his brother.
I experienced a particular feeling of sadness upon hearing McCain's most gracious concession speech. I realized that no veteran of Vietnam had served in the office of President, and that McCain was perhaps the last best hope of that happening. It still isn't too late, or course, but I had the feeling that with the public taking a pass on his candidacy, perhaps the torch was being handed off already to a new generation. It seemed that the experience of the souls who had served in the war that marked our generation, but were still keeping it all inside, was somehow being passed over also.
Obama's dignified acceptance address aroused in me feelings of hope. More so did the looks on the faces of his crowd. Much has been said about the shallowness, mendacity and venality of modern political campaigns (not without reason), but I did not see evidence of that in the countenances of this celebratory, but serious, throng. How long will such comportment last? I do not know, but it is reassuring to know that it is there and can be called forth if the moment can be made right.
As I reflect upon the differences between the times now and forty years ago, it strikes me that, culturally and politically speaking, much has changed, except perhaps the one thing that needs most to change. That is, we still cannot have an authentic public dialogue about money. To be sure, there are many partisan ideological arguments about taxes being too high, spending being out of control, having to pay the "debt" so our children won't have to, and the like, but those are not sober soul-searching conversations about what money is, how it is created and controlled, and who it serves.
McCain and Obama both talked in a heartfelt way about the need to come together. Money is one topic that is common to us all. Notwithstanding that it is typically invoked in a divisive manner, my experience is that it is the one subject around which it is most possible to have a unifying transcendent dialogue. I have tried to demonstrate something of that potential through these columns. It is my hope that in the relative political calm between now and inauguration day, the seed of a productive discourse on money can be planted, before the looks on those faces fade again into the disunity of political business as usual.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
I have spent the evening in the company of good friends with whom I watched the election returns on the television. At this late hour I am more in the mood to be personal than analytical. Election days are singular in their effect upon me. They are a unique hiatus between one rhythm of life and another. The campaigns are over, and now we go back to work.
I am a quintessential baby-boomer and child of my time. I grew up in what I experienced as the halcyon 50's, and came of age in the turbulent 60's. The thought that kept coming to me tonight is, "what a difference forty years can make". I was born and raised in Chicago, and grew up with familiarity with Grant Park, site of Obama's acceptance speech. Forty years ago it was the location of the massive disorder ("police riot" some called it) that swirled around the '68 Democratic Convention. How different that was compared to the virtual love fest that reigned there tonight.
I did not experience the mayhem in Grant Park in '68 because I was in the midst of another chaotic scene in Vietnam. From there it seemed that "the World" (what we called the states from "the Nam") was coming apart. Over a hundred cities, we were told, were beset by rioting and on fire. Martin Luther King had been murdered in the spring. Bobby Kennedy, who's last public utterance was "And now on to Chicago", met the same fate shortly after. This finished off, it seemed, the innocence of a generation, coming as it did less than five years after the assassination of his brother.
I experienced a particular feeling of sadness upon hearing McCain's most gracious concession speech. I realized that no veteran of Vietnam had served in the office of President, and that McCain was perhaps the last best hope of that happening. It still isn't too late, or course, but I had the feeling that with the public taking a pass on his candidacy, perhaps the torch was being handed off already to a new generation. It seemed that the experience of the souls who had served in the war that marked our generation, but were still keeping it all inside, was somehow being passed over also.
Obama's dignified acceptance address aroused in me feelings of hope. More so did the looks on the faces of his crowd. Much has been said about the shallowness, mendacity and venality of modern political campaigns (not without reason), but I did not see evidence of that in the countenances of this celebratory, but serious, throng. How long will such comportment last? I do not know, but it is reassuring to know that it is there and can be called forth if the moment can be made right.
As I reflect upon the differences between the times now and forty years ago, it strikes me that, culturally and politically speaking, much has changed, except perhaps the one thing that needs most to change. That is, we still cannot have an authentic public dialogue about money. To be sure, there are many partisan ideological arguments about taxes being too high, spending being out of control, having to pay the "debt" so our children won't have to, and the like, but those are not sober soul-searching conversations about what money is, how it is created and controlled, and who it serves.
McCain and Obama both talked in a heartfelt way about the need to come together. Money is one topic that is common to us all. Notwithstanding that it is typically invoked in a divisive manner, my experience is that it is the one subject around which it is most possible to have a unifying transcendent dialogue. I have tried to demonstrate something of that potential through these columns. It is my hope that in the relative political calm between now and inauguration day, the seed of a productive discourse on money can be planted, before the looks on those faces fade again into the disunity of political business as usual.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Column #74 A POETIC THOUGHT FOR ELECTION DAY
(Week 13 - Tuesday, Nov. 5)
The campaigning is done, and each office seeker has made his or her case. This poem is offered from the heart as something to reflect upon as each reader casts his or her vote. If one cannot find clear expression for the thought and sentiment it raises on the current ballot, then may it at least plant a seed of resolve for the next time around (which starts tomorrow).
"Why?"
Hark the entreaties of the broken
Souls who have borne usury's curse,
Debt-money's train of death and woes.
The huddled betimes scarce awoken
Soon to find wit and will aburst,
The hour, impending, no one knows.
The meek get ready to inherit the earth,
The earth prepares to receive the sky,
The youth anon will discover a future,
The wise, in love, smile – and now you know "Why?"
May we all walk in wisdom on this day of decision.
Thank you for listening.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
The campaigning is done, and each office seeker has made his or her case. This poem is offered from the heart as something to reflect upon as each reader casts his or her vote. If one cannot find clear expression for the thought and sentiment it raises on the current ballot, then may it at least plant a seed of resolve for the next time around (which starts tomorrow).
"Why?"
Hark the entreaties of the broken
Souls who have borne usury's curse,
Debt-money's train of death and woes.
The huddled betimes scarce awoken
Soon to find wit and will aburst,
The hour, impending, no one knows.
The meek get ready to inherit the earth,
The earth prepares to receive the sky,
The youth anon will discover a future,
The wise, in love, smile – and now you know "Why?"
May we all walk in wisdom on this day of decision.
Thank you for listening.
Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com
The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm
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