DECLINE OF CIVILIZATION: What happened to "CIVIL"?

Ah, capitalism! Remember Beretta (sp?)? He was the detective in some TV show back in the day who was fond of saying, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

We are not a country of dimwits. It's more that we might be collectively unconscious. Everyone, regardless of their political affiliation, religious or spiritual beliefs, IQ, social consciousness, ethical or moral views or any other identifier has reaped some benefit from our misguided conceit of entitlement. Not much black and white in the world. Plenty of nuance. We are flawed and human. Lots of gray. Hard to believe it is 2009 and we are still dulled by gray. I thought we were supposed to evolve. We've certainly done that technologically. In every other way we seem pathologically stuck in some primordial tar pit of greed.

But Our greed is not just about money and consumer goods. It's about resources. Our water. Our air. It's about human resources. Treating workers with contempt. Elevating prejudice to a cabinet post. Homeland Security. Raping every average citizen in the most dehumanizing way but taking their jobs and outsourcing them for profit only. Stealing their homes. Denying them basic protections and rights. How many have no health insurance? How many are hungry? How many can't afford their medications? What about the many that applied for and received credit cards they couldn't afford? Mortgages they couldn't afford?

Do they bear any responsibility for their own actions even though they are now victims? Exploited? What was the motivation behind their actions?

It is not just business owners and stockholders to blame for all this. Our government has clearly lost its friggin' mind and has no idea how to govern for the mutual benefit of all. Who holds all those government and quasi-governmental bureaus and agencies accountable? And how? Is anyone paying attention?

We ALL have to pay now and it ain't gonna be pretty. Some of us probably feel victimized by this horrific mess. Some feel self-righteous because they've been the canary in the coal mine of our decay for years. Many are befuddled. More feel betrayed. Have some people been more corrupt or selfish? Certainly. Some have broken every rule of the social contract to the point of evil. Like Bernie Madoff. But we have ALL lost our way.

Is the stimulus plan intended to prop up our capitalist framework a good or bad thing? Who knows. Seems likely it will just delay the inevitable collapse of our systems if implemented as intended. So we pay now or we pay later.

Two things come to mind: Peter Finch in the movie Network encouraging viewers to open their windows and yell "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" And the vision laid out by Marge Piercy in her book Woman on the Edge of Time which the Philadelphia Inquirer describes as about "the possibilities for moral courage in contemporary society."

Ah, moral courage.