Contributed by Scott M. Green
If America, collectively, is rich enough to solve everyone's problems, problems of ignorance and inequality, poverty and sickness, then many argue it, that we have a moral obligation to make sure it does. It is an easy argument to make and it is motivated, usually, by kindness.
Most people agree on the establishment of social safety nets to protect people, children in particular, from the worst social outcomes, and we have institutions in place to support them. From Denali Kid Care to the egalitarian structure of our public schools, from family housing subsidies to unemployment insurance and small business development grants, we use our institutions to maintain decent health and living standards, and to extend the reach of people striving to grasp opportunities for themselves. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Some would further argue that that which we do for the struggling, we should do for everyone. If America is so wealthy, need can and should be abolished. But we need to understand what defines America’s wealth, what exactly? What is wealth? From where has it come? What is its nature? Is it bread that can be broken to feed the world entire? Or is it a golden goose, producing wealth incrementally only if its body is left whole? Is it as a jewel one can clutch close, that can one enjoy as one withholds? Or is it more like a breath of air, life-giving but immediately perishable? Maybe wealth is more like a river, always running from its source, bringing abundance everywhere, staying nowhere, if allowed to flow.
One thing is clear: Money can only purchase what exists and what is offered. What exists and what is offered does not exist in a bank vault, or in the account balances of the super-rich. Money, strictly speaking is not wealth, but a claim on wealth, a check that can only be cashed on an account with sufficient funds. Thus, the source of wealth, the head of the river which runs through our lives, connecting us, prospering us is only this: the continuing motivation to create and offer value to others.
If that’s the answer to the problem of want, then the problem is deeper than politics. If that’s the answer to the problem of want, then we cannot merely wish or vote our way to an acceptable answer.
Here is something you can do: Recognize that you are the source of wealth, what you do today and every day keeps the world going. You and billions of other people blearily get out of bed every morning, shower, force-feed and work hard to be useful to people you don’t know, or even necessarily like. We supply and serve food to one another, pave roads and repair cars, honor contracts and expired coupons, drive-nails and smash our thumbs with tack-hammers. We study each other, always searching for new ways to be useful, to heal, to serve, to entertain, to lead one another.
This wild, decentralized, adaptable network of proactive interpersonal service and support is motivated by our own unsatisfied needs. It would not exist if we were merely taken care of, and encouraged to follow our passion. In such a world, we would have an abundance of mediocre jazz musicians, but rather less well functioning septic systems. No, we must rather be encouraged to place our ability to create value in the service of the real needs and values of our neighbors, values defined by their willingness to work and share to realize them; paradoxically, our unique ability to successfully cooperate at scale is ultimately a function of our freedom to work to satisfy our own wants and needs.
So, what is America’s wealth? It is your hustle, your commitment, your ingenuity, your focus, your compassion, your desire to impress, to serve, to excel. Wealth is not just value, but the living pursuit of values. Wealth is the embodied expression of the existential necessity to work and adapt to the needs and for the good of others. It is my sincere wish you will be encouraged and strengthened in your resolve to value your work, the process by which you survive and thrive as a function of your success in the pursuit of your neighbor’s good. Work matters. Your. work. matters.