CONSEQUENCE OF GREED

Mika Brzezinski, like her father, sometimes says the most insightful things in passing. I do not remember her exact words this morning but she said something to the effect that Republicans have a hard time doing the right things. The reference was to a conversation relating to the lack of a vote by the Republican controlled House of Representatives to approve money to help the victims of hurricane Sandy. Joe Scarborough, the “small government conservative” who moderates the show Morning Joe on MSNBC, said nothing. What she said is perceptive if you look at it from the point of view of Republican Party philosophy, which I have argued in the past is innate in some people.

Like Joe, they seem to be sincere in their belief that if government is small, the country will benefit in the end. When I first wrote that sentence, I used the word ‘everyone’ instead of the word ‘country’. I chose to rephrase that statement; if the government is small; they, meaning the people with the money, which is the way Repbulicans see themselves, will benefit. Isn’t that at the heart of Mika’s rebuke when she said they (Republicans) have a hard time doing the right things? When they do things that are right for them, they are not doing the right things for everyone. That, my friends, is not the definition of but is the consequence of greed. Altruists do not have a problem. When there are four pork chops and five people, there can be a reasonable solution, a way of doing the right thing.