The Mother of Necessity

Waiting for my food at a local restaurant last night, I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman sitting beside us. He seemed distressed or a little confused and she seemed bored. The man said that he wondered how long it would be before all the government debt issued during the Bush and Obama administrations would be owned by China and thus when would China officially announce it had annexed the United States, not to mention other countries. The woman didn't seem to care - she wanted to get back home to see a particular popular TV program with her kids.

One thing about living in a town where the average level of formal education is higher than most cities is hearing interesting comments like that, usually followed up by discussions about the latest NASA rocket launch (a dud, in this case) or continued level of government military funding (still unknown).

The couple beside us who voiced the view on China looked African-American and represent the typical young couples pouring into north Alabama over the last few years, bringing a modern view to a sleepy Southern state.

And of course, my dreams were filled with variations on that guy's questions, with friends of mine appearing as members of a panel of peers in a mock debate.

During the debate, one side held the view that this is a global economy and the strengths of the few are the strengths of the many. Therefore, one's view of ownership must be changed, not placated. In other words, when one country captures the means of global production and by doing so holds a vast sum of money, it still depends on the rest of the world to give the money any value. The currency market could be manipulated by the indebted countries in such a way that foreign reserves become worthless, even if such a shakeup would devastate the world market for years to come.

The other side argued that such a view is a theory - the reality is that many countries that used to depend on internal tax structures to prop themselves up (municipal, local, state and national taxes) were convinced by corporate citizens to give up billions of tax dollars, letting corporations buy and trade among themselves tax-free by using a peer-to-peer free trade zone called the Internet. Thus, a country's worth that used to be measured in tax collections had slipped out the back door in the form of profit-taking by foreign entities, corporate-like in makeup (with virtual or brick-and-mortar offices using Internet addresses), forcing such countries to prop themselves up on the foreign purchase of each country's debt issuance to cover tax shortfalls.

My buddy, Helen, who always saw things from a different perspective than mine but one which I understood, stopped the debate. She said that she and her husband had raised their kids buying American goods, sent their kids to private school and could look at their lives as successful. When the stock market started falling, they had converted most of their market holdings to cash reserves and dividend-bearing stock. They had done their share to pay taxes and live the American Dream. What, in all this debate, could an average American like her see as worthwhile? Had any of the debate team members raised children? What's the purpose of debating unless you can propose solid solutions?

There was a lot of laughter. The "American Dream"? What was she talking about?

Helen looked straight into my eyes and said, "See, that's why I'm here. I don't just raise children. I have a brain, too."

Of course she has a brain. And that's what the debate team seemed to be missing -- the wisdom of mothering.

For years we have run our countries like men, as if our tough-guy, warlike modes of seeing teh* world were the perfect models for progress. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," etc., blah, blah, blah.

["teh" = ode to Ganesh Sivananthan]

What was it the wise gurus of the past had told us? "Have children. Take care of your family." Oh yeah, that. Funny how it's usually the guys who are credited with the wise sayings of the past when what I've often seen is that it's the women who are having the children and taking care of their families while us guys go off to play.

I woke up after Helen spoke to me, partly because what she said was so startling and partly because a raging rainstorm battered our house, stirring my wife and cats, and thus, me.

You know that saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Well, who is the mother of necessity? In other words, if one looks at life, what is necessary? Are we guys going to keep playing around and pretending we're important by sitting in our clubhouses debating the high ideal of when a country is a country? No, we're going to listen to the women who are in the marketplace with us and turn our ideals into shovels.

In the new "shovel ready" economy, let's roll up our sleeves and put our money where our mouth is, placing a few side bets on the currency exchange market while we pour our personal cash reserves into the local economy, and spend our former play (I mean, debate) time with our families.

I'll help you if you want to build schools and improve the local roads but if you want my cash to get your mortgage out from under you, well...sometimes you've got to pay the price for not taking care of your own family. I know the whole "it takes a village to raise a child" thing should mean I care about your family, too, and shouldn't let them be punished for your overpriced house and overextended mortgage. But you know what? Your kids will learn a valuable lesson when they see you have to move to a smaller domicile and sell off all your toys -- Mommies and Daddies who weren't paying attention in class don't always know what's best for themselves and their families, so you better pay attention in class and get good grades 'cause the cellphone texting and other diversions of your classmates ain't going to help you learn how to pay the bills when you're a adult.