I've been reading George Lakoff's "
Don't Think of an Elephant" (and so should you)... and I've decided to hash through what I feel are my core values as a progressive.
I've decided that all the things I feel most strongly about fall under an umbrella-notion of responsible citizenship. I've outlined what this means to me in the extended copy section.
My core values stem from the notion of
responsible citizenship on the part of Americans, which I take to mean the following things:
- Responsible individual citizenship
- I pay my taxes and live my private life in the way I choose. I accept that others may wish to live differently than I (be they gay, Christian, or whatever...) and I have a willingness to coexist with these neighbors because our nation was founded on the notion of inclusiveness. The melting pot has not frozen over!
I also wish to help my community to grow and flourish, and I accept that my tax dollars may be used to do so. Giving willing assistance to those in need is a virtue, and anybody who says otherwise is acting selfishly and irresponsibly (e.g. welfare elimination & the general dismantling of the social state).
- Responsible corporate citizenship.
- Corporations should try to make good neighbors of themselves. This means being a good employer (e.g. offering a living wage, not requiring off-the-clock hours, giving benefits, etc.). Respecting the lifestyle and traditions of those whose communities support the business (attention Wal-Mart). Responsible corporate citizens support, rather than oppose, accountability amongst businesses to maintain a level playing field, so that those who follow the rules are not at a disadvantage.
In turn, as a responsible individual citizen, I support such businesses with my consumer dollars. Also, I recognize that I'm willing to pay a few cents more to encourage and support responsible corporate citizenship. If I pay bottom-dollar, I will inevitably get what I pay for, both in terms of product quality and in terms of corporate citizenship.
Update [2004-11-22 12:22:42 by crushinator]: Another necessary component of good corporate citizenship is transparency. As an institution attempting to thrive off the public goodwill, a responsible corporate citizen should be proud of the policies it promotes in government, and should be willing to account for its decisions under the light of day. Any institution which needs to hide its lobbying practices is probably not being a good neighbor, and we ought to be able to identify such businesses by comparison to ones with open practices.
- Responsible environmental citizenship.
- This rule applies just as much to responsible corporate citizens as to responsible individual citizens. We recognize that our surroundings are changed most noticably by our own actions. We agree that communities should not be poisoned off the map. We try to identify and reduce the most wasteful or harmful aspects of our own practices.
In addition, I think these concepts can be scaled to the national level, and we can attempt as a nation to be good global citizens.
I'll be refining these points over time as my own ideas evolve. But again, I'd love to hear what anyone has to say about these ideas.