President Obama has a unique talent: He is able to inspire people all over the world to deliberate and dialogue about burning issues. At the top of the agenda for such a global give and take is what makes for a good life. At first, it may seem preposterous for a nation deep in an economic crisis and mired in wars to pay mind to what at first blush seems like a philosophical subject. Actually, there is a profound connection between our multiple crises — add that of the climate to the mix — and the characterization of what makes a life good.
As long as those whose basic needs have been well-sated, whose creature comforts have been secured, keep defining the purpose of life as making more and more dough in order to purchase more and more consumer goods, we will not rein in wild capitalism, protect the environment (climate included), advance social justice, or, arguably, stop killing one another. Only after we come to see that additional goods add precious little to our happiness; that pursuing them is Sisyphean — the more we gain, the more we seek; and that deep contentment and human flourishing rise out of spiritual projects and bonding with and caring for others, shall we be able to come to terms with much that bedevils us.
These are hardly new thoughts. What is current — and provides the reason the new President is well advised to keep this topic in mind and in the public eye — is that the incessant quest for ever more material goods is at the heart of the economic crisis. President Obama correctly mocked President Bush for calling on people to go shopping after the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. However, today Americans and the citizens of many other nations are again urged to go shopping to dig us out of the current economic crisis. (This is what a stimulus package is all about.) Moreover, there is no doubt that given the way the economic system is set up, if people do not buy stuff, there will be more unemployment and more people will lose their homes and empty their retirement funds.
However, the good way out of the crisis does not lead to a return to the old ways of the better-off purchasing ever larger homes, stocking them with ever more appliances, and driving SUVs and Humvees. It does not call for people to save nothing and to go into debt in order to buy still more goods — many of which those who are better-off do not really need — nor for people to labor long hours, take work home, delay retirement, send their teenagers to labor at fast food chains, and cut short social and cultural life to make some more money.
The precept of a good life calls for setting ceilings for purchases and for work, for setting fairly modest limits on that which we seek to own and purchase, and on the amount of time we are willing take away from our children, spouses, friends, communities and ourselves, in order to work.
There are a whole slew of public policies that can express, foster, recognize and promote the good life. A steeply progressive income tax will do wonders. Consumption tax (or VAT) on all items that are not defined as basic goods, will help send a message. Limiting government insured or subsidized mortgages to houses of a reasonable size (McMansions are out), a tax on gas guzzlers and on cars by weight, and insuring only one bank account up to 100,000 dollars (rather than the current, unlimited number) are but a few illustrations of setting limits.
Last but not least, there is a deep connection between a life worth living and social justice. To achieve a major reallocation of wealth, those who have more than enough must find sources of contentment other than laying their hands on still more goods. This is what many religions offer. Those who have lost this source of goodness, or have found it twisted, are called upon on to search for other springs of meaning. And nobody is better placed or more equipped than President Obama to return us to this old, but never more current, subject: What makes a good life.
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"surely it was George W Bush and Paulson that issued the first tranche of the bailout monies? "
That was Bush’s misguided but also a temporary fix to the problem. after it failed, Obama threw more money after bad because Obama’s instinct is socialism. Bush did it out of a (incorrect) steming of the problem with much Democrat pressure.
"When did Obama "tank the market" exactly? I thought that was Bush"?
the stock market was at all time highs from 2001-2007 when there was a Republican House, Senate and White House. The current crisis is from housing and lending and the fault lies more with Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Andrew Cuomo back when he was running HUD and pushed for affirmative action with lending. Frank was in charge of Fannie and Freddie and did nothing to prevent the crash. Bush is gone but Frank and company are still there.
Too blame Bush is very intellectually dishonest and plays to those ignorant of what is happenning. Reagan had a worse crisis in the 1980′s and got the nation out of it by cutting taxes which Obama will not do significantly.
Finally when you combine political ideology with "what makes for a good life" your are flirting with fascsim.
It is interesting and highly disturbing to note how many Americans view Barack Obama’s handling of the financial crisis. It is as if he alone is somehow driving America into socialism and, the worst I’ve read, communism. But surely it was George W Bush and Paulson that issued the first tranche of the bailout monies?
As Morganfrost describes it: "…while tanking the market and transforming my beloved America into a socialist dystopia". When did Obama "tank the market" exactly? I thought that was Bush?
From many other blogs I’ve read, a common sentiment is being carried through that the Obama administration is at odds with capitalism. I do not see that as true, as all governments, across the spectrum, have supported industries that cannot be allowed to fail.
In Britain, for example, The Daily Mail reported that the government was just three hours away from allowing every single cash point to be closed across the country as the banks failed. If that is socialism, I fully endorse it. Can you imagine the chaos of an entire population having no money?
But this piece is not really about political ideology but more about "what makes for a good life" and it certainly isn’t about continuing the barbarism of wasteful and punitive competition; the point is, that by restoring the system that has failed us, the tradmill in which more and more consumer goods were produced and toxially expended, is it not in the best interests of us all, especially now that we have an urgent need to protect the environment for us and future generations, to change?
Mr Etzioni, a very good piece and one that people should seriously consider as humanist, without the need to politicise it.
Go pick up a copy of that book from two years ago because that is what we are on the verge of living it today.
No Etzioni. Let Obama struggle to do his job as President which he is already failing at before he goes for the role of American Pope.
Nevertheless thanks for confirming what some of us already suspected about Obama. Perhaps some of his useful drones will snap out of the trance by 2012.
Please.  I don’t need a president to help me understand what a good life ought to be. And, if I did, I sure-as-hell wouldn’t need one whose idea of a good life is to take my money and spend it on crap I don’t want or need, while tanking the market and transforming my beloved America into a socialist dystopia.
those who have more than enough must find sources of contentment other than laying their hands on still more goods. This is what many religions offer. Those who have lost this source of goodness, or have found it twisted, are called upon on to search for other springs of meaning. And nobody is better placed or more equipped than President Obama to return us to this old, but never more current, subject: What makes a good life.
Mr. Etzioni – Go live in a tin-pot third world dictatorship. It is not the role of the President to to dictate to us through his power how to make a good life. That is up to the individual. Socialism is a religion and you apparently are one of the high priests. It is one thing for a 20 year old kid who worships Obama to be a useful iditot but I expect more wisdom from an old man.
This was a truly insightful and meaningful post. It touches on the very core purpose of my life’s mission.Â
I’ve personally witnessed the excessive spending by my own parents, I’ve attended a Top 25 ranked university, and have also experienced poverty, homelessness, and abuse firsthand. So, I see the world in which we live from "both sides", and life is truly much more valuable than simply an over-priced house with matching SUV.
It is rather Sisyphean indeed, because the cycle never ends using materialism to attempt to find happiness and fulfillment.
I now operate a Social Cooperative Arts & Media Organization with the mission to help our global community attain some form of Intellectual, Spiritual, and Emotional wealth.
Thank you for this post!
~ Jamal and Jasmine Rose
http://www.unworldlife.com
The Unknown World exists not for the people who see the glass half-empty,
Not for the people who see the glass half-full,
But for those of Us who Question, "Why isn’t my glass 100% full in the First Place?"
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