Ethics: it’s what separates us from the animals – even if
they got a hold of some thumbs and a sense of humor and even some heavy
machinery.
With the ability to choose to do wrong, there is
also the ability to choose to do right. I’m not suggesting that solution is
that we all gather on a hillside to eat carrots and hug, but we could start small, say, cut out denying people access to
health care when they are dying and have children to support.
I don’t care about the economic rationality of
universal health care; that is not the ultimate standard by which all must be
judged.
The more the religious right screams about morality, the
greater the erosion of our personal standards of ethics. Maybe it’s because
they think that god is in control, wealth = cleanliness and so all is right
with the world (those who are suffering deserve it), but I believe that no
matter the existence of a god or not, we have an obligation to allow ourselves
to be the community-oriented and socially-engaged creatures that we are without
sacrificing all of that in the name of competitive profiteering.
It’s not economically rational, but fuck economic
rationality.
Yay for humanity, boo for pirates.