Living in Washington, DC can be exhausting at times. I hate to continuously write about things going on here, but it is an ever present reality. The government is in full blown crisis mode, but everything is going about as usual. Even if you try not to look at the never ending news, someone will call you with an update of what is going on.<\/p>\n
On top of what is going on, our readings for this class have drilled home the deeper reality and gravity of the current situation. I wish I was still na\u00efve about what is going on in the government.\u00a0 But from reading Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, I now know that the job I have, the house I own, and the money that I have in the bank are not real, but are false commodities (Polanyi 2001, 76-77).\u00a0 I also now see more clearly how our government manipulates the markets to keep them from being truly self-regulating. This makes me wonder about my Thrift savings and how much money I will have for retirement.<\/p>\n Last week we read The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective<\/em> by Dennis Tourish and I am reminded that the leadership in our country is leaning heavily on the dark side. Spirituality is being used in the government to bolster the position on a variety of issues, including immigration. The use of spirituality in the government is problematic and divisive to those with non-Christian or even differing Christian beliefs (Tourish 2013, 63). \u00a0Even worse is that leaders are doing so many un-godly things in the name of God and Christian values.<\/p>\n Now this week, we encounter The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em> by Max Weber. Weber has explained that Protestantism spurred on capitalism because Protestants preferred to obtain material wealth over the quite simple life of the Catholic (Weber 1930, 8-9). Weber is particularly critical of Calvinism in the spread of capitalism since this Protestant religion was practiced most heavily in the countries with the highest capitalistic economy (Weber 1930, 10). Weber believes the spirit<\/em> of the Protestant faith, in particular Calvinism, is capitalism, acquiring more for the sheer end of having more and indicts America, using Ben Franklin as a prime example of this belief system (Weber 1930, 18-19). In other words, Weber is saying the almighty dollar is the true God of the Protestant faith, and living in Washington, it seems his words ring prophetically true.<\/p>\n The budget bill passed today, which kept me and other federal workers employed, is approximately $4.407 trillion, creating a deficit of $985 billion (Amadeo 2019). Instead of reducing the deficit, we are constantly spending, with a call for even more spending to build a wall. This huge deficit makes one wonder how long our capitalistic machine can go on.\u00a0 Frerichs quotes Keith Hart stating we should examine the coins in our pockets which on one side shows a symbol of political authority and the other shows the precise amount the coin is worth in exchange; this symbolizes that the State underwrites the currencies and that money is originally a relationship between persons in society (Frerichs 2013, 16). While I cannot pretend to understand all of the theories of money presented by Weber and Polanyi, I do understand that the strength of the American dollar is based on a certain amount of faith in our capitalistic system, which given all I have read in the past few weeks, scares me just a bit.<\/p>\n In spite of all I have read, which gives me pause (and a little panic), I am reminded of a story in the Bible about money.\u00a0 In Luke 20:20-25, the Pharisees attempted to trap Jesus by asking if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar or not.\u00a0 Jesus knowing their duplicity asked to see a denarius and asked whose image and inscription were on it. When the Pharisees responded that it was Caesar, Jesus told them, \u201cThen give back to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s, and to God what is God\u2019s.\u201d This Bible story gives me great comfort in these times of economic uncertainty. Although we have \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d on the back of our dollar, and a great political symbol of authority on the front, it is clear that our Protestant faith cannot be based on capitalism. Yes we should work hard to the glory of God, but the goal is not to promote a capitalistic faith. In the words of an old familiar hymn, Hold to God\u2019s Unchanging Hand<\/em>, we are reminded, \u201cCovet not this world\u2019s vain riches, That so rapidly decay, Seek to gain the heav\u2019nly treasures, They will never pass away (Wilson 2007).\u201d Perhaps we should adopt this as our Protestant Ethic.<\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n Amadeo, Kimberly. “US Federal Budget Breakdown .” The Balance.<\/em> January 21, 2019. https:\/\/www.thebalance.com\/u-s-federal-budget- breakdown-3305789 (accessed February 15, 2019).<\/p>\n Frerichs, Sabin. “From Credit to Crisis: Max Weber, Karl Polanyi, and the Other Side of the Coin.” The Journal of Law and Society<\/em>, 2013: 7-26.<\/p>\n Polanyi, Karl. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.<\/em> Boston: Beacon Press Books, 2001.<\/p>\n Tourish, Dennis. The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership: A Critical Perspective .<\/em> New York: Routledge, 2013.<\/p>\n Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.<\/em> New York: Routledge, 1930.<\/p>\n Wilson, Jennie. “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand.” Hymnary.Org.<\/em> 2007. https:\/\/hymnary.org\/text\/time_is_filled_with_swift_transition (accessed February 15, 2019).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Living in Washington, DC can be exhausting at times. I hate to continuously write about things going on here, but it is an ever present reality. The government is in full blown crisis mode, but everything is going about as usual. 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