Enough!

Enough! You’ve allowed the corruption of justice long enough. You’ve feigned helplessness or turned your back as your leaders let the wicked get away with murder. Their job was to defend the helpless, to make sure that the underprivileged and the down-and-out are treated fairly. Their job – and yours – is to stand up for the powerless, and to rescue them from those who exploit them. Ignorant people! You have your heads in the sand. You haven’t a clue what’s going on, and now everything’s falling apart. – paraphrase of Psalm 82

I’m incensed at those who mouth the words of our rich political and business leaders: “The unemployed are lazy. They don’t work hard enough. There are plenty of jobs. They just don’t try.”

I want to shout, “Quit drinking the kool-aid!  (Or tea, in this case.)  Open your eyes and see what’s going on!”

But then I look at myself. What am I doing to change our society, our political structure? Wringing my hands makes me exactly as effective as those whose blindness infuriates me. In fact, isn’t my inaction even more egregious than their ignorance? Because I DO see what’s going on.

What can I – and any individual – do? I mean, like, immediately? I can:

1. Refuse to patronize the businesses of large employers who pay their workers less than a full-time, living wage.
2. Move my money from a bank to a credit union.
3. Purchase products that are fairly traded. (My responsibility for my fellow humans doesn’t end at my country’s border.)
4. Campaign for living wages for all. Poverty would end tomorrow if we had national minimum income and a higher minimum wage.
5. Buy less. Need less. Give more.

The current oligarchy will collapse in a month if we refuse to participate in the economics of our current era. It’s time to get our heads out of the sand. This isn’t just a political problem, it’s a spiritual one, and the psalm is clear. If we continue to stand (purposefully or through inaction) on the side of those who profit from exploiting others, we stand against God.