About That Moral Crisis

Yes, I’ve been listening to the debate that’s been raging about the problems in America.

It does seem to be true that there are deficits in our educational system, that some people are unable to work, that some people are unwilling to work, and that too many people cannot afford decent medical care. It may also be true that too many have too little and/or too few have too much.

No matter the issue, whenever a problem is identified, everyone’s got a favorite theory, a favorite demon to blame, and a favorite cause to champion in pursuit of a solution. As often as not, someone figures the problem is that we are in a moral crisis in America.

Well, I certainly agree that America is in the throes of a moral crisis. But I believe the morals of corporate America are the issue here.

Amazing, isn’t it, that a citizenry that celebrates the message of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and flocks to yuletide productions of “A Christmas Carol” to cheer Tiny Tim and applaud the conversion of Scrooge to humanity is the same citizenry that tolerates the ruthless activities of some of America’s most prominent corporations?

After all, we now inhabit the future featured in those “America of the Future” films they showed us with such optimism in elementary school, back in the forties and fifties. Fifty or so years later, we travel the predicted superhighways (not to mention the one dedicated to Information), and they are indeed elevated and curve gracefully around skyscrapers; we drive the promised aerodynamically-shaped automobiles and race at Bradburian speeds over the desert, not to mention occasionally within city limits. We have become accustomed to robots, especially those who’ve replaced living beings at the telephone switchboards of corporate America.

We have long taken a stunning array work-saving appliances for granted, although I’ve yet to figure out just how a dishwasher saves me time. The ironing board is almost extinct and now there are cute little self-propelled floor mopping devices. Interactive TV is coming on line. And not only do we have the promised tiny transistor radios that fit into the ear, we’ve two-way TV telephones and cellular phones that take pictures, and now we have the iPhone!

There are more varieties of leisure activity available than even Bradbury predicted, and wall-sized TV screens can’t be far away! All the prognosticators of the forties and fifties had a favorite theme: that more and more helpful appliances and an evolving technology would bring us to a fantasy life of increased time for home and family, for leisure activities. No longer would a father be obliged, like Bob Cratchit, to work from dawn to dusk and beyond with no time for Christmas dinner.

Ah, we looked forward to shorter work-weeks, longer vacations, financial security and good health. We would be able to spend time with our children, do lots of travel, pursue any number of hobbies . . . You get the point.

Well, look again. Father may have more time with the family, but in most cases that is possible only because Mother has taken a job to help support the family. And now, with corporate downsizing and outsourcing — the better to feed the voracious appetite of shareholders for ever-increasing profits — not to mention the layoffs that inevitably result when two companies merge, Father is just as likely to be out of a job altogether.

When a corporation no longer offers loyalty to its workforce, or any sense of future, choosing instead to reduce jobs, or wages, or benefits, a predictable casualty is worker loyalty. You don’t see much of that any more, and that loss inevitably generates instability and a whole new aura of fear and loathing in the workplace.

Imagine how the American condition would be affected if corporations regained their moral compass and assumed some responsibility for the wellbeing of their workers!

Now, don’t be thinking, “but there’s nothing we can do about it,” because that’s just not true. There’s lots we can do. But we do need to remember that you can’t just wish away immoral behavior — you need to convert the sinner to want to do the right thing.

For starters, then, we (the people) can begin by getting rid of the tax breaks given to corporations who outsource jobs and/or move their headquarters overseas, and offer them instead to corporations who stay here.

We can offer tax incentives to corporations who will locate a business in declining areas in our cities, which in turn will bring jobs to people who live there and slow the emptying into the suburbs. And we can offer further incentives to those corporations who contribute to the public schools in their neighborhoods so that their employees’ children will have a decent education — without demanding advertising in exchange.

Last in this commentary but hardly least, we can see to it that Congress enacts health care reform here at home to ensure that, one way or another, every American has access to affordable care. That will not only improve the quality and longevity of life for Americans but will inevitably ease the benefits burden for corporations and, it is hoped, complete our conversion of the sinner.

In the final analysis, every penny offered in tax incentives, every penny spent to help provide health care for working America, will be returned many-fold in the form of jobs and tax revenues and healthier citizens who can work harder and longer, not to mention stability and maybe even that America of the Future we’ve all been dreaming about.