Failed Conservative Values: Norman Solomon on Dog Eat Dog Greed

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By Edwin Rutsch (about the author) Page 2 of 3 page(s)

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Progressive Values Metaphor: Norman Solomon - Water v Bulldozer

Edwin: If you created a metaphor for progressive and conservative values, what would they be like?

Norman: Well, progressive values could be likened to water that flows and looks for cracks in the walls that constrain where we can go to, irrigate and nurture our own humanity in social terms.

Edwin: And on the conservative side?

Norman: I think it’s a bulldozing process in terms of rolling over people and institutions in the service of the quest for outsized profits.

What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system.
Milton Friedman

Greed Definition:

- excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves;

- reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins);

At Wikipedia:
Greed is the selfish desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.

Greed denotes desire to acquire wealth or possessions beyond the needs of the individual, especially when this accumulation of possession denies others legitimate needs or access to those or other resources. For example, amassing a large collection of seashells would not be considered greed, unless in doing so, the needs of others were jeopardized. Essential to the concept of greed is the awareness that the needs of others are denied, thus rivalrous goods exemplify greed while non-rivalrous goods may not. Greed also often involves using wealth to gain power over others, sometimes by denying wealth or power.....

Some Questions To Ponder:

    - How would you define Greed?

    - Do you have a personal story or anecdote of how you learned some insight into the Failed Conservative Value of Greed?

    - What is the progressive counter value to conservative Greed? common good, community, ?

    - Can you create a metaphor for greed, i.e. Greed is like ?

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