The Widening of the Divide and the Breakdown of Civilization as We Know It

This last year or so, I've been watching with growing alarm the world at large. Before that, I had been living my life more or less ignorant to the things going on around me. Being naïve is easy to do. When your personal bubble is comfortable, when things aren't perfect but go pretty much as planned, a person tends not to look much beyond their sphere.

I will admit, I've been blessed to have lived something close to a charmed life. We have always worked hard, and have enjoyed the fruits of our labor, but in no way are we "rich" in any sense of the word. Then I met some people from my online world, ones who were in dire straits because of the economy here in Michigan.

They were hanging by a thread with one of those sub-prime mortgages looming large, and had suffered personal hardships on top of that. The wife couldn't get a job no matter what she did, and the husband had to drive 40 miles one way to get work. There was no way I could feel superior to my friend, because I know that there by the grace of God go I. I am humbled by and am glad to know such people; the ones who struggle hard to do the right thing.

Though I've always kept a watchful eye on it, I started paying more attention to the politics in this state, and then later to the politics in this country. This is easy to do with the Presidential election in the forefront.

But this is not about politics, even though the current focus is on our elected officials. This is something deeper and more pervasive than out-of-touch millionaire lawyers running (ruining?) our lives from the safety of the chambers of state capitals and Washington, D.C. There is a sense of entitlement that our leaders in government and industry are embracing. It is slowly trickling down to the common people and robbing us of our accountability.

There is a divide forming, one that will widen the chasm between the people with the power and money and the rest of us.

Here are but a few examples of the sense of entitlement that some feel they rightly deserve: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi needing a private jet to get back and forth to San Francisco; Kwame Kilpatrick thinking that the office of "Mayor" meant he was the king of Detroit; the AIG bigwigs spending untold thousands in spa retreats; the recent news of CITI Corp. plunking a down payment for a $45 million dollar jet when they've asked for bailout money because they needed financial help.
There's more, but who can keep up? This all smacks of a mindset that says "I'm better than you, so I deserve it."

It's not just newsmakers that feel a sense of entitlement. Children cannot possibly "fail" in school, so they and their parents think they are entitled to good grades, whether they have earned them or not. Who cares if they learned the material, as long as they feel good?

Some people think they are entitled to use their credit cards and then default on them and leave the bank in the lurch. Why worry about the bank, since they have all kinds of money, bailout or otherwise?

If a person lies on his time sheet, steals from the company, or takes something from his/her workplace, it's only fair. The boss has all the money; he can afford it.

As Americans, we think we are entitled to anything and everything. Even little kids have cell phones, and it appears in the face of financial calamity, many will hold on to things that are handy to own, but not necessary. This is because they feel entitled to the items.

Such widening swings in ethical and moral values presents a dilemma to those who have chosen to walk the straight line in life. What if you have done everything to an honest plan? You pay your taxes and your bills on time, you put away a little money for college and retirement, you buy a house thinking it will be a nest egg and offer a decent return when you are ready to retire, and in the span of four short months, your entire life plan is decimated.

When your neighbors are defaulting on mortgages and loans, why not pack it all in and walk away? The temptation is there.

Before this past year, I believed in the system of government that we have and I believed in the free market. But now that I've found out the road to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is taken by getting elected to any office or by becoming a CEO of a major corporation, it has soured me on the fairy tale.

Our elected officials not only get a salary, they are also given far more in perks and benefits, and many accept side donations. The same holds true for those CEOs. Elected officials should serve, not be served. CEOs should be concerned with the bottom lines of their companies, not with lining their wallets.

Because of this, I see a divide widening between those who have and those who don't. Those who have will be our elected officials and captains of industry, and the only way to get a piece of the pie is not to have good, solid, ethical ideas based in fact, but to brown-nose or bribe one's way into the Capitol or a boardroom.

As the owner of a small business, this turn of events is particularly disheartening. We strive to provide good service and treat our employees well. We've suffered a steady downturn for three years, one that does not look to be improving and has eaten the costs in our own salaries. We're not buying jets, boats, or taking extended spa trips to the Southwest. We're not even buying new cars. But because we own a small business, we are lumped into the same category as those high-flying CEOs or our elected officials who think it's perfectly all right to raise taxes without cutting spending.

Right now in our civilization and at this time, there's no glory in being the good guy or doing the right thing.

But there is a huge difference between us and those who rule us. We have a stake in our livelihood. We have a stake in our credit, in our house, and in our good name. We take the high road because taking the low road would be wrong.