Whatsoever a Man Soweth

Dear Mr. President,

There’s a column in this morning’s New York Times by Eduardo Porter that’s thought-provoking. Porter talks about the choices Americans have made at the polls over the past 30 years which brought us to the predicament we find ourselves in now. He points out that our technological innovation has driven the world economy for years and that through our choices (both federal and local) we have chosen a government of low taxes and few services, what Porter calls “cutthroat capitalism” which exacts high social costs that result in “some of the worst social ills known to the industrialized world.” Among what we call developed industrial countries, we have the most acute income inequality, the highest death rate for children under 19, the highest poverty rate, the highest obesity rate and the highest teenage pregnancy rate. Our public spending on early childhood development is the most meager and preschool enrollment is the lowest among all developed countries. Mathematical literacy of 15 year-olds ranks us 26^th of 38 countries and our college graduation rate has dropped from the highest to middle of the pack. We develop sophisticated high-tech health care systems that are astronomically expensive but rank low at combating minor run-of-the-mill ailments. And we leave millions of our fellow Americans uninsured. Perhaps most shocking is that our incarceration rate is the highest not just developed countries, but the entire world: 743 per 100,000; the next highest is Rwanda with 595 per 100,000. This election, he says, is a choice between even smaller government with fewer services that Romney represents or a bigger government with more services that you represent. I believe the difference between you and Mitt is much smaller than Porter represents it and I’m voting for neither of you, I want someone who is neither a war criminal nor a cutthroat capitalist, so I’m voting for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. What I came away with after reading the article, however, is the old biblical phrase from Galatians 6:7: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” And then it occurred to me that Reaper drones, Kill Lists, targeted assassinations and extra-judicial execution by small teams of assassins working in the dead of night is a form of cutthroat capitalism—the most deaths for the least cost—and that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” applies to this too. You may be long gone by the time the harvest comes, but come it will.