Politics and the Good Society

James O'toole of the Aspen Institute wrote a book called: "The Executives Compass: Business and the Good Society". In the book he lays out ideas about how we need to balance Liberty and Equality, Efficiency and Community in order to have a society that is both free and provides equality of opportunity, one in which take advantage of the benefits of efficient markets while also understanding and tending to the needs of community. The problem with republicans and conservatives is that given the choice they see the world as a zero sum game as as such always err on the side of Liberty and Efficiency to the detriment of Equality and Community. The world is not a zero sum world. The problems we face require more innovative thinking about how we manage the polarity of these ideals that are seemingly or some times actually at odds with each other. Republicans put forth that Liberty and Efficiency will always prevail because if you are freely unconstrained to pursue your own best interests we will all benefit. Of course we see by financial meltdowns and Bernie Madoff's and Enrons and Worldcoms and unjust wars and disparities in sentencing and gay bashing, etc, etc. that this is not always true. We must be ever vigilant about how our actions impact the broader community, especially those who have less of a voice in the system. We must be ever vigilant that Liberty is not purely the province of the wealthy and connected but that we provide equality of opportunity, through education, access to financing, pay and job equality, to everyone. This is how we get to the good society.