A note on happiness...

America stands for, and is willing to defend by force if necessary, the Constitutional guarantee of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Never has a more Lockean creed of personal achievement and sheer self-actualization been thundered than in America--my home. What was it that we all were so sick and tired of being deprived of anyways? I mean we had it pretty good, right? Thousands of miles away from King George; fresh earth to till; forests teeming with game; and finally the chance to do whatever we wanted with the fruits of our labor. So what was the big deal?

Taxes. We all got upset that we had to pay taxes on stamps one day but hadn't had to the day before and were never given notice nor had any say. In short, there was no one to lay blame on for this and we had no recourse to kick the idiot out who had let this happen to us--meaning a politician who represented "our interests." Colonial Americans were so upset by this atrocity that they had to kick the whole group of those red-coated thieves out. America to this day still stands tall and proud of the fact that its overarching desire for freedom came from the fact that we were sick and tired of having money taken away from us without due process of law.

Two hundred thirty-some years later, and almost eleven trillions dollars in debt, the U.S. still proudly holds on to those ideals. So why am I writing a note about happiness? Because it was in our pursuit of each individual's happiness that got us into this mess. Consider defense spending projects. Whether you know this or not, most big ticket defense projects are built in as many different Congressional locations as possible. One part is built in one district, another is built in a different one. If you vote against a defense bill you are voting to cut jobs in your own district--which means you are in for trouble come re-election. So they just keep adding more and more dollars to the defense budget each year and the numbers keep rising. I am far from a believer in small military and I will say that now. However, it is important to understand that we need to modify our spending priorities on constant upgrades and new systems for EVERYTHING. We cannot predict which wars will happen and where they will take place that is true...but I find it hard to justify the astronomical costs of some defense projects that will likely never see the light of day. However, the defense contractors that are driving that agenda are simply pursuing their own happiness--getting contracts. More specifically the bonuses that come with getting the contracts. Is the politician to blame for wanting to keep jobs in their district by supporting the defense projects? Is the worker to blame for wanting to have a good paying job so their kids can have adequate dental care, money to take a modest vacation, braces, and afford to live in a decent house and put aside some money for retirement so they don't have to be a burden on their loved ones?

All of these people are pursuing the small happiness-es that come from our system that our government was founded on. And that way of life is currently under attack. Unless we wake up and realize that at some point enough is enough then we will all go down with this ship together. I don't think that it is the government's job to do this. I personally believe that you cannot, and should not legislate most behavior--I believe in small government. Society must at some point police itself with norms and morals. The government can pass laws all that it wants but those laws can change in a matter of short years. The type of change that I am calling for will take decades to come about.

Last night I read through the entire text of the house-passed version of the stimulus bill. I read all 647 pages (the pages don't have very much text, it's a shorter read than you think) and I came away from it thinking that I had just read the 2008 1/2 budget for the United States of America. I don't see how, short of the transportation and housing issues, that this bill was in any way related to job creation. Rather it was more about keeping more government and municipal workers employed--but in areas that did not make a great deal of sense to me. I didn't entirely understand the hundreds of millions of dollars that were going to the Arts. Funding for the Arts is important, I agree, but shouldn't that funding be in the actual BUDGET?

We take all of our hopes and dreams and put it on one bill, the stimulus package, and believe that it will be the beginning of a new day. Maybe it will. But from what I read I don't entirely see how this will create three million jobs. Government agencies throughout the Bush Administration had been complaining of cutbacks on federal spending. Also the cost of fully implementing all of the post 9/11 changes had been passed on to the states. So, if anything, the job creation would be simply creation of jobs that had been previously eliminated or not fully funded. On the other hand I will say that growth of any kind is better than none at all. Hopefully, we can get some happiness created in the short term. But remember that the national debt now is far too large and it is exceptionally difficult to believe that continual borrowing, especially in this climate, is likely to continue as before. The capital market environment simply won't allow it. Also, there are so many other countries that are borrowing right now. Why should the U.S. be guaranteed funds when others are just as worthy?

We all live in a capitalist system, and in that system we all are trying to get our own happiness. The spirit of free market enterprise that caused the colonials to rise up over taxes and representation is rooted ultimately in a question of fairness. And so now we are living in a world gripping tight to the question of what is fair? Would the continued U.S. dominance of the capitalist system be fair? Probably not anymore...we lost that privilege when we couldn't keep our eyes on balanced budgets or going to decent priced schools. No, it will be a larger group of countries that will be making the decisions in the future. To this idea I give credit to Paul Kennedy, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Simply put, the world is too large for one country to have total control. The happiness of one pales in comparison to the happiness of the many. We can all thank Jeremy Bentham for that maxim.

Of course that is just one man's opinion. Be well dear reader

--A Wise Man in the East