Greed Is Now As American As Motherhood And Apple Pie Part 1 of 3

Greed is now as American as Motherhood and Apple Pie.

Implying, thereby, that it was not at one time.

Our first fore bearers, the earliest settlers, could not have survived the harsh environment, and the justly hostile Native Americans, had there not been total cooperation among them.

Greed would have done them in.

Ditto, our earliest ancestors.  The harsh environment, the naturally hostile creatures, required total cooperation among them in order to survive.

Greed would have done them in.

The move away from living in Community during the Hunting/Gathering period, to dwelling in Individual establishments during the Agricultural era, let Greed raise its ugly head in Society.

But, successful Agricultural production required a substantial amount of cooperation among neighbors. 

And, even though the Industrial Revolution in England [started circa 1750] had wrecked havoc on the Community system of living, some of the Community system needed for successful Agricultural production still survived in England into the late 19th Century.

Thomas Hardy in The Mayor Of Casterbridge [1886] http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/casterbridge/ writes in Chapter 27 paragraph 40 – “Nearly the whole town had gone into the fields.  The Casterbridge populace still retained the primitive habit of helping one another in time of need; and thus, though the corn belonged to the farming section of the little community–that inhabiting the Durnover quarter—the remainder was no less interested in the labour of getting it home.”

Very little such Cooperative, Community-based endeavor informed Agriculture in America.

The Homestead Act [1862] allowed possession of 160 acres of unclaimed Federal land.  Too big a Spread for any English-type Cooperative endeavor. 

Cooperative barn raisings were the nearest that America came to Community-based efforts.

Beyond the size of the Spread, the factor that truly militated against Cooperative, Community-based enterprise in the newly-emerging Republic was the type of Christianity practiced in America.

The Christianity of England, then, and now, is Anglican – the first cousin of Catholicism.  And, hence, carries within its practice substantially the Catholic Church’s emphasis on a preferential option for the poor.

The Christianity of earliest America was, and, is now, Calvinism.

Which equated material possessions as a sign of God’s blessings. 

The more one had, the more one had been blessed by God.  And, the more one had been blessed by God the more one was likely to be blessed by God.

Business success was seen as a sign of God’s favor.  Business failure as a sign of God’s disfavor, God’s displeasure.

So, Bigness in size, in Agriculture and in Industry, in the size of one’s Bank Balance, in the size of one’s Net Worth, in the size of one’s Bonus, in the size of one’s Paycheck, was seen as a Virtue by Calvinist America. 

Not a Vice, as taught by the Catholic and the Anglican Churches.

 
Egbert F “Burt” Bhatty has worked 30 years as an Analyst at the American Embassy, New Delhi, and at British [Dunlop] and American [Chase Manhattan] multinationals.  He is a Certified Catechist.  Holds a 3-year [part time] Certificate in Foundations For Christian Ministry.

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