{"id":311,"date":"2012-02-18T00:08:41","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T05:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=311"},"modified":"2021-02-21T13:51:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-21T18:51:08","slug":"how-much-is-enough-enough-is-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/18\/how-much-is-enough-enough-is-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much is Enough? Enough is Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Sirota<\/a> writes in In These Times<\/a> about Embracing Enough.\u00a0 How much is enough?\u00a0 I consider this one of the most important questions for humans to answer both for themselves and to work out a reasonable relationship with the other people on this planet.\u00a0 He writes:<\/p>\n

Of all the no-no\u2019s in contemporary America\u2013and there are many\u2013none has proven more taboo than the ancient doctrine of dayenu. Translated from the original Hebrew, the word roughly means \u201cIt would have been enough.\u201d The principle is that a certain amount of a finite resource should satisfy even the gluttons among us.<\/em><\/p>\n

I know, I know\u2013to even mention that notion is jarring in a nation whose consumer, epicurean and economic cultures have been respectively defined by the megastore, the Big Mac and the worship of the billionaire. Considering that, it\u2019s amazing the word \u201cenough\u201d still exists in the American vernacular at all. But exist it does, and more than that\u2013the term\u2019s morality is actually starting to suffuse the highest-profile debates in the public square.<\/em><\/p>\n

Observers of politics in almost any era, have probably exclaimed, “Enough is enough!”\u00a0 Politics and power are prone to excess.\u00a0 Resisting the ability to acquire something when someone has the power to acquire it is perhaps the most difficult human challenge.\u00a0 In fact, that is the whole business of ethics.\u00a0 Ethics by its very nature is about restraint, not doing something that we could do.\u00a0 Thus the concept of “enough” is integral to defining the boundaries of one’s ethics.\u00a0 I agree with the author of this article that somehow the concept of enough is viewed as anti-American.\u00a0 This probably goes a long way to explain why many people are critical of America’s behavior, i.e., the immorality of it.\u00a0 In political discourse, I usually see the term freedom as a code word for overrunning moral boundaries.\u00a0 Ironically, it is often people of the traditionally conservative bent, who view themselves as particularly moral, that seem to espouse so-called freedom.\u00a0 On close inspection, you will likely note that when they are espousing freedom, it is typically their own freedom.\u00a0 This sets up a certain hypocritical aspect of freedom lovers, demanding a change or restraint in behavior in others and expecting that their own desires for freedom be respected.\u00a0 It is this freedom derived from overblown individualism that eats away at the social fabric.\u00a0 Certainly, a just balance of freedom requires a just balance of freedom between oneself and others.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it is all too convenient to demand morality of another in lieu of the difficult task of restraining their own desires and abilities, i.e., behaving morally and ethically ourselves.\u00a0 Of course, this takes us back to the concept of power.\u00a0 Perhaps the great privilege of power is the ability to enforce an unjust balance of freedom.\u00a0 In other words, in having greater power we have a greater ability to act unjustly, immorally, and unethically.\u00a0 Thus, the truism that with greater power comes greater responsibility, being legitimately held to a higher standard.\u00a0 Unfortunately, and perhaps ironically, having greater power gives a greater ability to enforce a different standard for other people than ourselves.\u00a0 I suspect this is why politics, the way we deal with power between people, is routinely and authentically observed as hypocritical much of the time.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, to be free and moral, we need to define how much is enough.\u00a0 We cannot outsource this responsibility to the free market.\u00a0 We cannot blame it on others.\u00a0 At some point we need to declare, and act in accordance with, enough is enough!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Sirota writes in In These Times about Embracing Enough.\u00a0 How much is enough?\u00a0 I consider this one of the most important questions for humans to answer both for themselves and to work out a reasonable relationship with the other … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,15],"tags":[563,542,400,512,397,141,123,577,437,150,115,214,228,213,418,155,81,379,17,215,110,513,544,409,529,380,383],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-america","tag-ancient","tag-balance","tag-business","tag-change","tag-conservative","tag-doctrine","tag-economic","tag-ethics","tag-free-market","tag-freedom","tag-hypocritical","tag-immorality","tag-individualism","tag-market","tag-moral","tag-morality","tag-nature","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-privilege","tag-questions","tag-responsibility","tag-time","tag-work","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Much is Enough? 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