Cohousing-L Mailing List: Greed

[Paul Kilduff (LibertyPaulMary]

Hope I'm not beating a dead horse.

Sorry to be late, but I've been busy.

Bill Bartlett:  I would say that, if anything, a more just world is
_possible_ because people are greedy.

I agree that the rapacity of the people of the US, who use a
disproportionate share of the world's resources already, is distasteful
and regrettable.

But what I say is that the reduction in human misery in modern times is
considerable, and that it has come about largely through efforts of
people to enrich themselves legitimately.  Driving greed underground
creates  apparatchiks,
gangsters, pirate capitalists who, generally speaking, do not contribute
to humanity's progress.  But more-or-less honest businesspeople intent
on beating the competition are a tremendous asset to humanity.  We
benefit from their creations constantly.

Schemes to reform the world, to the extent that they should be
entertained at all,  should concentrate on helping people help
themselves, and not in giving housing to able-bodied people.  Really,
the interrelationships are too complex to try to reform the world.
Easier to steer a ship with a thousand steering wheels and no compass.

Does my philosophy justify my own behavior, as you suggest?  I
quit my job with a Fortune 500 company because I was disgusted with the
ethics I was required to represent.  I now work alternate days to my
wife's schedule, so I can help raise and home-school our daughter.  I
now work part time for a lot less money.  Would a greedy person have
followed such a path?  Foolish, maybe.

I am one who believes that money is something you buy things with, and
wealth is that which makes one happy, such as food, clothing, shelter,
love, entertainment.  But I'M not _creating anything to advance the
general happiness, or reduce the general misery_, of the world!  I
respect and appreciate, even if I do not like, those who dedicate
themselves to becoming
millionaires, working long hours, giving up leisure and family life so
that people like me can have more enjoyable lives.  I don't claim that
they're altruists, but they make our lives better.  Cut them some slack!

Scott Cowley:  We could spend forever talking about why Cuba's in the
shape it is.  Castro's had time to make socialism work, and it's
probably only resentment of US interference that's kept his people from
overthrowing him until now.  

I _want_ Cuban socialism to succeed.  I would love just one example for
the world that a government based on sharing of resources can really
work.

But Cuba goes nowhere -- not because of a misguided US government,
though we are misguided, but because they refuse to harness the
fundamental engine of human progress.

As for my being a fish in a cesspool, how could I deny a thing like
that?  As for my rising for just any li'l ol' worm, I'm afraid you're
wrong about that.  Good try, though  {;+)

King Collins:  Sorry about the word "upbraiding."  Too strong, you're
right.  "Reproval?"

I know you weren't arguing for a soviet model of socialism.  I meant
that as an example of a well-intentioned philosophy gone haywire.  The
"endless nightmare" you compared our present society to might not be
improved by people with all good intentions.

I think our society needs lots of improvement.  But when you start
talking about making home ownership part of the social welfare system
("government itself will care enough to help create housing and
cooperative community for everyone") you're following footprints that
lead into nightmare indeed.  

May I mention that prior to this discussion, I started a dialogue with a
group here in Baltimore which is interested in saving tiny rowhouses
here, considered too small for even the poorest families to live
in today.  Their mission struck me as amazingly resonant with
cohousing's, i.e.,
create a neighborhood of clustered housing centered around a common area
(in this case, an alley).  I'm trying to develop in them an interest in
using the cohousing model to re-develop these alley house neighborhoods
into affordable urban retrofit cohousing.

Cohousing forever!
Paul Kilduff
Baltimore  MD  USA
paulkilduff [at] webtv.net