Where have all the ethics gone?
Tuesday, 13. December 2005, 10:44:04
Joni Mitchell, in her song "Chinese Cafe / Unchained Melody" sings about short sighted businessmen.
She is lamenting the acts of those who pave over little parks and rip off Indain land. But I was thinking that it is not short sightedness that is the problem, it is the social equation that we use that gives power to those with money.
I think society should be based on an equation that scholars have named a 'Republic.' It is complicated and goes something like this, written by the US War Department, November 30,1928, talking about government.
"Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered. Democracy is the direct rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success. Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic."
The reason a republic works is that power is rooted in the people, focused and reflected through representatives, into laws, which then govern the people, in the best interests of the people as perceived by the people and interpreted by the representatives, who can be replaced in a peaceful way by the common people when the interpretations of the representative fail to work. A republic fails when the representative no longer represent the people, but instead are guided by something else. Being guided by philosophical ideal is the business of something scholars have named "ethics." Being guided by something else has many names, but one I am concerned with is called by ordinary people as well as scholars, "greed." The lowest common denominator of greed is called money, but the effect is interpreted by this writer as power which is misplaced.
A representative is given power from the people when he is elected to his post. When his power is deflected away from the best wishes of the people by greed, he is no longer being guided by a philosophical ideal. He is being guided by - in this example - greed. This behavior falls under the classification "unethical."
The result of unethical behavior is the failure of the republic. When a republic fails, it is usually replaced with a form of government that is even less responsive to the best wishes of the common people.
The lament, Miss Mitchell, is not about businessmen who are only being selfishly pragmatic. If advertising gets them what they want, they advertise. If bribery gets them what they want, they bribe. Businessmen don't want to bribe. Bribes are not tax deductible, and come right out of profits. They only use bribery because the person in power allows his use of power to be bribed.
The lament should be about the loss of the ethical behavior of the representatives of the republic, representatives who change the laws to allow the construction of another mall at the expense of a little park, to allow drilling for oil in all the wrong places, to allow continued degredation of the environment in general, and who, in general, believe that they know what is best for the common people, without asking them directly.
A republic will fail when the power of the representatives is no longer a reflection of the will of the people. But isn't a businessman a citizen too? Of course! But instead of one vote, he is voting with thousands of dollars, focused on just the one representative who has the power to help the business. A representative is only human. The only thing that can enable him to refuse the money from, and the obligations to the businessman is ethics. If all the representatives have become unethical politicians, then the republic has failed. It has changed into another form of government.
There is even a name for it: "rotocracy: government by those who control rotten boroughs." It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
There are no musicians singing in praise of our beloved rotocracy. On the contrary. The lyrics of Black Eyed Peas in Where is the Love? clearly link terror and murder with our rotocracy: "Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism but we still got terrorists here livin' In the USA, the big CIA, the Bloods and the Crips and the KKK.
Obviousely, if the singers equate the CIA to the KKK and street gangs, then they do not feel the they are being represented in the government of the USA. If the common people don't feel like they live in a republic, THEN THEY DON'T!
In the movie "Judge Dredd," the failure of the republic results in rotten boroughs where, within the walls separating society from the world ravaged by pollution, anarchy and chaos reign. In the movie, Dredd, played by Sylvester Stallone, is able, after much action and adventure, to save himself, but he is unable to save the republic. He can not lead them back toward a republic. He can only go back out into the mean streets where he says, in his wonderful snarl: "I Am the Law!"
All together now! (To the tune of 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?')
Where have all the ethics gone? Long time passing. Where have all the ethics gone, long time ago?
Where have all the ethics gone? Gone to Money, every one. When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
She is lamenting the acts of those who pave over little parks and rip off Indain land. But I was thinking that it is not short sightedness that is the problem, it is the social equation that we use that gives power to those with money.
I think society should be based on an equation that scholars have named a 'Republic.' It is complicated and goes something like this, written by the US War Department, November 30,1928, talking about government.
"Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered. Democracy is the direct rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success. Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic."
The reason a republic works is that power is rooted in the people, focused and reflected through representatives, into laws, which then govern the people, in the best interests of the people as perceived by the people and interpreted by the representatives, who can be replaced in a peaceful way by the common people when the interpretations of the representative fail to work. A republic fails when the representative no longer represent the people, but instead are guided by something else. Being guided by philosophical ideal is the business of something scholars have named "ethics." Being guided by something else has many names, but one I am concerned with is called by ordinary people as well as scholars, "greed." The lowest common denominator of greed is called money, but the effect is interpreted by this writer as power which is misplaced.
A representative is given power from the people when he is elected to his post. When his power is deflected away from the best wishes of the people by greed, he is no longer being guided by a philosophical ideal. He is being guided by - in this example - greed. This behavior falls under the classification "unethical."
The result of unethical behavior is the failure of the republic. When a republic fails, it is usually replaced with a form of government that is even less responsive to the best wishes of the common people.
The lament, Miss Mitchell, is not about businessmen who are only being selfishly pragmatic. If advertising gets them what they want, they advertise. If bribery gets them what they want, they bribe. Businessmen don't want to bribe. Bribes are not tax deductible, and come right out of profits. They only use bribery because the person in power allows his use of power to be bribed.
The lament should be about the loss of the ethical behavior of the representatives of the republic, representatives who change the laws to allow the construction of another mall at the expense of a little park, to allow drilling for oil in all the wrong places, to allow continued degredation of the environment in general, and who, in general, believe that they know what is best for the common people, without asking them directly.
A republic will fail when the power of the representatives is no longer a reflection of the will of the people. But isn't a businessman a citizen too? Of course! But instead of one vote, he is voting with thousands of dollars, focused on just the one representative who has the power to help the business. A representative is only human. The only thing that can enable him to refuse the money from, and the obligations to the businessman is ethics. If all the representatives have become unethical politicians, then the republic has failed. It has changed into another form of government.
There is even a name for it: "rotocracy: government by those who control rotten boroughs." It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
There are no musicians singing in praise of our beloved rotocracy. On the contrary. The lyrics of Black Eyed Peas in Where is the Love? clearly link terror and murder with our rotocracy: "Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism but we still got terrorists here livin' In the USA, the big CIA, the Bloods and the Crips and the KKK.
Obviousely, if the singers equate the CIA to the KKK and street gangs, then they do not feel the they are being represented in the government of the USA. If the common people don't feel like they live in a republic, THEN THEY DON'T!
In the movie "Judge Dredd," the failure of the republic results in rotten boroughs where, within the walls separating society from the world ravaged by pollution, anarchy and chaos reign. In the movie, Dredd, played by Sylvester Stallone, is able, after much action and adventure, to save himself, but he is unable to save the republic. He can not lead them back toward a republic. He can only go back out into the mean streets where he says, in his wonderful snarl: "I Am the Law!"
All together now! (To the tune of 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone?')
Where have all the ethics gone? Long time passing. Where have all the ethics gone, long time ago?
Where have all the ethics gone? Gone to Money, every one. When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
WIDGETIZE
elizabeth_g # 22. May 2006, 00:31
I'm doing an english-poetry music video project on that song and you totally gave me an awesome new perspective on the whole thing... : )