The Theory of Enough

A good old-fashioned anti-establishment rant

I am no economist, and certainly not a sociologist. I have no idea why most people in our society are so consumed with consuming. I understand that the need to have status is very important to the majority of people, and for most acquiring material wealth is the simplest way to exhibit their status. Material comfort is also fundamental to most people’s view of their own security. Wealth is a guarantee that one will not starve or lack the necessities of life.

This is likely a biological imperative, built by centuries of roaming about in search of food and shelter. But even with the dawn of agriculture, and in our time the explosion of technology to produce everything from artificial light to devices capable of communicating over vast distances, there seems to have been no cap on the degree to which people require or desire wealth. In fact, people have grown more and more consumed with the idea. Corruption is rampant in the “developed” world, and no-one can seem to get enough. It is not enough to own a motorized vehicle, it has to be Hummer. It is not enough to own a home, it needs to be at least 2,500 sq. ft. with a two car garage.

It should be plain enough to everyone that their need to consume comes at a cost. Of course there is the obvious indebtedness that buying all this stuff will place an individual in; but debt, like money itself, is an abstract concept, and not easily understood. On the other hand the destruction of the resources used and disposed of to make up our “wealth” should be fairly evident: every tree we cut, every mountain we level in search of coal seams, every inch of arable land we plant, only to have its crop rot in a silo.

It is my belief that our desire to consume so rampantly is manufactured. Knowing, as we all must, that our present consumption creates a vacuum for future generations of our own children, there needs to be a more plausible explanation for why we behave like we do. Who would knowingly destroy the future of the only world we know for an instant gratification that is not, in truth, all that gratifying?

It is our leaders who have built this desire. They are the ones who glamourize wealth and make it the dream of mankind. Every glossy magazine and Hollywood blockbuster is chock full of images designed to make people want. They are the ones who ensure the ignorance of youth, who indoctrinate them into a hollow philosophy of rampant desire for objects only available to those willing to indenture themselves for the pride of ownership.

The most powerful man in the world is quite unashamed of his own ignorance, of the influence peddling that effects his every decision. He is bought and paid for, and couldn’t be prouder. The cabal that owns this most powerful puppet is a group who does not care for the future of earth, because they do not believe in it. It is the interest of the here and now that occupy them exclusively. It is how they appear to the world at large that dictates their actions. Obviously, they are flattered by the notion that they will effect history, but whether for the better or worse is irrelevant. As the famous P.R. saying goes: “Just make sure they spell my name right.”

I don’t care for the powers that be. I work on behalf of the democratic system, it is true, but always with a mind as to how it can be improved. To me there is nothing more important than learning how put the lives of all people ahead of all else. Economics is broken because it does not consider the human element, politics is broken because it only appeals to those who would use it to further their own agenda, which in most cases means the advancement of business interests over human life.

The industrial age was a useful and necessary era in human evolution, but the time has come to bury it, and the magnates it created. The world belongs to everyone: not the rich, not the strong, not the smart, but everyone. Those who were given gifts of brilliance and fortune need to place themselves before the unfortunate, need to walk in the streets of New Orleans and Bande Ache. To put your children in a gated community and send them to exclusive schools is the greatest disservice you can do to. Let them see the poor and the unwanted, let them know that their wealth and power comes at a cost. Teach them that they have enough, and that to want more is foolish, unnecessary and immoral.