Wants and needs

We have too many of them. Americans, among people in many other countries, typically want a lot out of life. I understand this because I too want a lot of things, but I think I want a lot less than most, which is what helps me be so happy. Well, that, and that I get of most of what I want. I want food, shelter, friends, and ways to pass the time. Since I enjoy thinking the problem of passing the time is solved, and since I have a job the food and shelter problems are solved. And I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of decent, intelligent people as friends. Everything else I have, I don't need, and wouldn't be heartbroken if I lost them. I don't need a fancy house, or a fast car, fancy electronics (although they are fun, if you have them), clothes (other people seem to disagree with me there), or most of what the television tells me I should want. I do my best to not buy into the consumerism that has been plaguing our country since the end of world war two. Still, I'm not perfect, so I'm bound to slip up here and there and buy something I don't need. What worries me is that to remain competitive in this world we have to have a strong economy, which people need to buy things, and since people need very little to survive, we all end up buying things we don't need. And where does this money go? Some of the money we spend goes to pay workers, some gets spent on products used to make products, but that doesn't add anything other than business to business transactions. A lot of money, however, goes to those who own the companies but don't to a proportional amount of work for the money they receive. This wouldn't be inherently bad so long as people got what they needed, and the rich could simply get more things. The problem comes when the things the rich people can buy is control over portions of the population. Money should have no place in politics. It should have its place in government, but that is different: the government needs money to pay its workers. Money shouldn't impact elections because then the rich, who may not be the best leaders, will have more of an impact on government than the average citizen. What compounds the problem is that business can benefit from policies put in place by the government.

The solution? Stop buying things you don't need. Stop paying so much attention to mass media. Money influences politics because the average citizen allows it to. If more add time on the television and radio didn't correspond to more votes, campaigns wouldn't be so sensitive to funding.

I'm not very good at writing about things like this. Maybe I should focus less on the problems and solutions, and just present a possible world where the problems are much less severe. Please, feel free to comment if you have anything to say. We can work to make things better.