Politics & Government
Thanksgiving Means Giving Thanks: Moral Corruption Makes it Hard
Thanksgiving is a day of giving thanks for the bounty of the land; however if the bounty these days is morally corrupt this is hard to do.
As we start the Thanksgiving week; it is hard to give thanks for the bounty of moral corruption enveloping the nation at every level.
Just last week The Guardian in an article about the likely overdose death of rapper Lil Peet wrote: "This is an inevitable cultural byproduct of the US, where the marketplace has been allowed to triumph, and silence moral concerns about the availability of these drugs.
The Guardian writes about the availability of legal drugs; but the reality is that "the marketplace has been allowed to triumph, and silence moral concerns" in each and every aspect of life including politics and civility. Whether it costs money or makes money is all that matters. Ethics and morals simply aren't included in any sort of manner.
Find out what's happening in Redwood City-Woodsidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
For the reality is as Santa Clara County Supervisor, Joe Simitian, discovered the country has been traveling in this direction for the last 50 years. Supervisor Simitian traveled to counties in three states - North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan - to talk to some of the over ten million voters that voted for President Obama and President Trump. What he heard in county after county was that the problems had started decades ago and that nobody was focusing on the problems here at home. In fact one person didn't want to talk to him considering that he came from Silicon Valley the likely source of some of the problems and certainly an area that until now hadn't even cared about them. Essentially citizens voted for change three times and they feel they may finally getting it.
Locally in Redwood City, City Council members and City staff have at the same time that they have technically prioritized creating affordable housing and maintaining a democratic government cancelled elections and ordered the destruction of homes worth over twenty million dollars. What is this if not moral corruption.
Find out what's happening in Redwood City-Woodsidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As David Brooks put it in his column this week in the New York Times "people under 40 get this. They sense the social and moral void at the core and that change has to come at the communal, emotional and moral level. "
I hope that as we enter this holiday season and give thanks for whatever we do have; that we also realize that we need to prioritize morals above money.
