Amorality Where Politics, Economics and Personal Values Meet

A while back I wrote a blog post titled "Economics and Atom Bombs" where I explored the idea of following quantitative theories without regard for their impact on civilization. Recently I posted the following in response to a repost on Google+ of For many Americans, 'temp' work becomes permanent way of life where I follow a similar thread. Many nay-sayers of "Obama-Care" are pointing to changes in the American workforce as signs of their forewarning that it all is such a bad idea. I have a different opinion based on the idea that healthcare reform like many things is a process not a state of being.

Why does economics have to drive all of our decisions? In my opinion companies that choose to get around the healthcare reform act by moving more of their workforce to contract don't share my values. When I become aware of the divergence of my values with a companies I choose not to do business with them. I already don't shop at WalMart, adding a few more businesses to that list won't be a big deal. I've heard of companies dropping their healthcare coverage that are small enough to not be required to offer healthcare to their employees. The reason being the owner's religious objections to providing reproductive services. My opinion is that if you can't dispatch your role as an employer without subjecting your employees to your particular brand of superstition then maybe you should't exercise your freedom to be a business owner. Just saying... Focusing on individual freedoms is not a way to mitigate or evaluate the effects of public versus private actions (and their effects). Sure an employee has the freedom to leave and find another job. But is that as easy as an employer deciding to cut healthcare coverage? What are the economic repercussions for the employer versus the employee? The warning is that people are selfish and greedy. My opinion is that we as a country are slipping into a state of de-facto apathy, using the excuses that (because) either the law, or economic theory or religious philosophy allows the effect (we as a society can't or should not take action to offset the unpleasant effects), and decide to be amoral based on the de-facto state of #place favorite ideology here#.

In software engineering many of us have adopted a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote as a battle cry against conformity for conformity's sake "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 1841" The longer quote is

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance" 1841

The market place of ideas is under stocked, many of us choose to cling to a pre canned ideology, put a pin on our lapel, a bumper sticker on our car and that is the some of our intellectual endeavors. We chide our politicians for flip-flopping on an issue. When in reality to not change your opinion, especially when new information becomes available, is of even greater concern and what currently holds the United State's political system hostage. It is important to be an individual, but don't hold to a set of beliefs just to be consistent. Being so rigid that you become singular, a dot on a line or worse yet an end point representing an extreme. There are many great individuals who are not living up to their potential in the current age because they have become singular, hobgoblins of a foolish consistency.

I may be taking Emerson out of context, but I don't think so. At the heart of Emerson's idea was that being an individual is a process not a state of being. We all need to grow as individuals, change our minds and feel free to contradict what we have said in the past.