I often hear that people want to work. Naturally, I question that statement, and I do so with a little thought experiment.
You are given all the money you need to live comfortably. It pays for your home, for transportation, for food and clothing, for education (schooling and continuing), for medical care, and anything else you can think of. In other words, all your needs are met. All you have to do is decide what you want to do with your time. And whatever you want to do with your time, you have the money available, so you don't need to earn any more.
Now, would you still work?
Sure, some of you would still choose to go to work. Some of you have jobs that you enjoy doing. That's cool. Nothing wrong with that. But if you can quit any time without adverse consequence to yourself, is it really work anymore? If you can come and go whenever you want, do as much as you want as well (or poorly) as you want, isn't that more like play?
But not everyone has a job they enjoy doing. Do fast food employees enjoy their jobs, or are they there to earn a little extra spending money? Do sanitation workers really enjoy picking up our garbage, or are they doing it because it pays better than flipping burgers?
I don't think people really want to work. I think people want to enjoy their lives. I think some people are lucky enough to have jobs that they enjoy doing, which explains why they would continue doing them, even if they didn't need the money. I think others are so indoctrinated into the "we want to work" meme that they would continue to work a job that was literally killing them.
I think the founding fathers had an epiphany and wrote it into the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." When they wrote that, I think they recognized that these weren't so much rights as they were a state of being. That it is fundamental to our existence, and that because it is fundamental, we do not have the right to impede it unless one's pursuit of it would cause harm to others.
And so, when we work, we do so because we want the money we need to pursue our happiness. Work is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. And because it is a means to an end, and because that end is fundamental to our existence, it is necessary for jobs to provide enough so that we can actually achieve that end. A job that fails to do so is a job that is denying us our natural rights.
When I look around at the state of our economy, at how much jobs pay compared to how much it costs just to live—forget pursuing one's happiness—I think it's fair to say the jobs in this country are denying us our natural rights. And that makes me just a tiny bit pissed off.
A Perfect Conversation is a group for republishing diaries that:
A) Challenge the DK conventional wisdom.
B) Provide information which may lead to new ideas.
or
C) Push for action that is innovative or not just playing defense.
The point is not to agree (or disagree) with these diaries. It's about challenging ourselves to rethink our political philosophies, activities, and issue positions.
Diary Title
|
Diary Author
|
The Cure for Plutocracy: Strike! |
David Swanson |
Why have unions willingly disarmed themselves of their most potent tool: the strike? No other political entity would ever willingly give up their trump card, yet unions did. How do we convince unions to bring it back? |
A full list of all diaries republished to A Perfect Conversation can always be found
here. Feel free to check it out at any time.
Rec List from the Eclectic Boogaloo - April 20, 2011: