Sender: Lawrence Chickering
Subject: Re: A focus on empowerment vs. a focus on inequality
Date: Thu, May 22, 2014
Msg: 101009

Michael expresses a position aligned with John Rawls's work: that our central moral focus should be on improving the condition of the poor -- reducing poverty -- rather than on reducing inequality. To believe otherwise (as a thought-experiment) -- if the two values conflict -- is to prefer reducing inequality to reducing poverty; or actually increasing poverty to reduce inequality. An odd position, to say the least.

Lawry Chickering Educate Girls Globally Author: Beyond Left and Right (1993) and (with James S. Turner) Voice of the People: The Transpartisan Imperative in American Life (2008) On May 20, 2014, at 07:43, Michael Strong wrote:

> Steven Johnson provides the usual talking points on inequality in response to Lawry's focus on empowerment. I would expect we have all heard variations on this data before. > > First of all, I agree that it is morally outrageous that some people, many of them wicked people, are rich and that others, many of them innocent children, are poor. > > Secondly, I have no a priori preference for an particular rate of taxation or redistribution. If I were to be convinced that a tax rate of 99% on incomes over x would improve the condition of the poor on a global basis, then I'd be all for it. > > But ultimately, no matter what the data is on inequality, if more spending doesn't improve the lives of the poor, then I'm against it. The entire goal should be to improve the quality of life for human beings - not to make an arbitrary set of numbers meet an arbitrary set of criteria. > > Two questions: > > 1. Can we agree that improving lives is more important than is "inequality"? > > 2. And, if improving lives is indeed more important than inequality per se, can we agree that something like empowerment of the human spirit, as so eloquently articulated by Lawry, is an essential aspect of improving lives? > > > -- > Michael Strong > CEO and Chief Visionary Officer > FLOW, Inc. > www.flowidealism.org > > For the definitive Conscious Capitalism book, see Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems, by Michael Strong with John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Hernando de Soto, Co-Chair of the U.N. Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and others, and listen to John Mackey's audio CD Passion and Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism, both available at amazon.com or www.flowidealism.org. > > Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good > > When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. > > Leonardo Da Vinci > > To unsubscribe from the TRANSPARTISAN list, click the following link: > http://lists.thataway.org/scripts/wa-THATAWAY.exe?SUBED1=TRANSPARTISAN&A=1 >

A. Lawrence Chickering Founder and President, Educate Girls Globally (EGG) 1485 Main St., Ste 103c St. Helena, CA 94574 415.235.6628 email: lchick0203@gmail.com www.educategirls.org On May 20, 2014, at 07:43, Michael Strong wrote:

> Steven Johnson provides the usual talking points on inequality in response to Lawry's focus on empowerment. I would expect we have all heard variations on this data before. > > First of all, I agree that it is morally outrageous that some people, many of them wicked people, are rich and that others, many of them innocent children, are poor. > > Secondly, I have no a priori preference for an particular rate of taxation or redistribution. If I were to be convinced that a tax rate of 99% on incomes over x would improve the condition of the poor on a global basis, then I'd be all for it. > > But ultimately, no matter what the data is on inequality, if more spending doesn't improve the lives of the poor, then I'm against it. The entire goal should be to improve the quality of life for human beings - not to make an arbitrary set of numbers meet an arbitrary set of criteria. > > Two questions: > > 1. Can we agree that improving lives is more important than is "inequality"? > > 2. And, if improving lives is indeed more important than inequality per se, can we agree that something like empowerment of the human spirit, as so eloquently articulated by Lawry, is an essential aspect of improving lives? > > > -- > Michael Strong > CEO and Chief Visionary Officer > FLOW, Inc. > www.flowidealism.org > > For the definitive Conscious Capitalism book, see Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems, by Michael Strong with John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Hernando de Soto, Co-Chair of the U.N. Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and others, and listen to John Mackey's audio CD Passion and Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism, both available at amazon.com or www.flowidealism.org. > > Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good > > When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. > > Leonardo Da Vinci > > To unsubscribe from the TRANSPARTISAN list, click the following link: > http://lists.thataway.org/scripts/wa-THATAWAY.exe?SUBED1=TRANSPARTISAN&A=1 >

A. Lawrence Chickering Founder and President, Educate Girls Globally (EGG) 1485 Main St., Ste 103c St. Helena, CA 94574 415.235.6628 email: lchick0203@gmail.com www.educategirls.org

############################

To unsubscribe from the TRANSPARTISAN list: write to: mailto:TRANSPARTISAN-SIGNOFF-REQUEST@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG or click the following link: http://lists.thataway.org/scripts/wa-THATAWAY.exe?SUBED1=TRANSPARTISAN&A=1