Kudos to Doug Masson!

Anyone who has never read Doug Masson's blog should do so immediately. I have never met Mr. Masson, but I find him to be a very thoughtful and insightful writer. His latest post is so good, I just can't help but quote it liberally here:

Our society’s thumb is firmly on the scale favoring property rights over other types of rights and, as a result, wealth is concentrated in few enough places that it’s distorting our markets and our democratic institutions. We end up spending far more on health care than other countries while getting the same or worse results. We can see other countries implementing educational systems that perform better than ours does but, for ideological and venal reasons, we pursue privatization rather than taking measures to enhance the professional status of our teachers and other steps that have been shown to yield educational improvements.

. . . . .

Humans need cultural myths and narratives to give them purpose. The American Dream has been that guiding story for much of our country’s history. As I always understood it, that Dream was that we are a nation of laws, not of men. If you work hard and play by the rules, you will prosper and your community will flourish. That dream was often more aspirational than real, but mostly it didn’t seem too far-fetched. These days, with the idle rich making money hand over fist, hard working Americans going bankrupt from medical bills or lack of opportunity, and the wicked going unpunished, that Dream is being stretched to the breaking point. Once deprived of the narratives that give our lives positive meaning, we succumb to nihilism or other pernicious ideologies.

Sometimes, all you can do is say, "Amen!"