Is The Perfect Society a Dream?

The Seven Deadly Sins

History and religion has often referred to seven deadly sins which are:

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

To me the worst of these is greed. I say that because I believe it is the cause of most of the major conflicts, wars, and slaughters in history and the ultimate demise of most societies. It still reigns supreme. Ours is likely to follow suit.

All people require basic food, water, protection from the elements, and a safe place to live. The poorest peoples lack one or more of these. The comfortable - our "middle" class, gradually and often through hard work accumulate all four. The powerful obtain them in abundance through any possible means and then want more, even at the expense of the first 2 groups. THAT friends is GREED.

Might has always made right. Often it meant the strongest with the best weapons simply eliminated the weakest and then took what they wanted. That is still happening in parts of the world.

But for decades now, the weapons have been replaced by money and the brawn has been replaced by cleverness and deviousness in accumulating that money by any means.

Here is a list  of many of the things which I find impossible to justify. Those who already have them or indulge in them have no problem rationalizing their possessions or actions. Many just say "why not?"

1. Monster houses including the land often surrounding them; multiple swimming pools and the drinking water in them; pool heaters; the energy required to warm and operate such houses.
2. People who own several of these, often inhabited for only part of the year.
3. The entire racing industry including monster trucks and speed boats that use enough energy in one session to plough fields and grow food for many, many people.
4. Personal vehicles with enough power to pull a semi often for the personal travel of one individual.
5. Buffet style restaurants where individuals eat enough for three or four and waste the same amount
6. People who have hundreds of millions of dollars and want even more, often paying no taxes on what they have. Many of these were born into their wealth.
7. People who have made all of their money on the stock market often by illegal means and have never worked at a "real" job in their lives. Investing in new businesses that become successful and provide goods and services to society are a good thing. People who make tons of money by simply buying and selling stocks are not. They don't add any more to the benefit of others than loan sharks.
8. People who use personal vehicles to commute when public transit is available. Equally to blame are the leaders who fail to provide such public transit, often because of the greedy desire to be re-elected.

The list could be longer. I would add that the other six sins could also be a result of greed.

Socialist, Communist, Fascist, Capitalist, left, right, or centre - all have greedy people wielding the power who end up with the most of the peoples' wealth.

Does anyone have any better ideas?

The Brewster