Perhaps the greatest schism between the public sector and private enterprise today is that private enterprise nakedly admits that its aim is to profit off the neediness of others. It feeds on greed and fear; it does not pretend to do anything else BUT that. If it must be cruel in order to profit, it chooses to be cruel and defies others to make it behave in ways that serve the common good. It fights attempts to force it to serve life, if that service does not align with the selfish profit motive that underlies the entire private enterprise system. In short, the private enterprise system is built on the assumption that naked self-interest and greed are foundational to human nature, and that an economy designed to sate these desires is one that can sustain itself indefinitely. Meanwhile, the public sector purportedly devotes itself to service of the whole; its stated intention is not to self-enrich its members. They are entrusted to act like public SERVANTS, and to comport themselves in ways that put the needs of the people and the commons ahead of their own selfishness and greed. This dichotomy sets up a huge problem for us, because it both implies that humans cannot rise above their greedy and selfish natures AND that humans can rise above their greedy and selfish natures. Perhaps we should pick one assumption or the other, no? ;)
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 15:51:26 +0000