It's all about 'The Benjamin'

      There's a line from a song by Sean Combs that said,"It's all about the Benjamins."  And P.Diddy knows much of what he speaks. He has lived his life true to this theme. It is all about the cash.
      Look at just about anything in modern life. Whether it is professional sports, politics, business, or much of social networking. Follow the cash and you will find there what most of us call 'success.' We all love a winner, and the money trail sways like a conga line going daily to whatever champion has designated this or that as 'today's pot of gold.' We market what may be, and send our money to what we hope is. Can it be any other way in modern life and 'succeed?' Probably not. But the market is not a god, and shouldn't be deified as such. It's an idea. And it is an idea that morphs like any other idea .It is no constant that allows us to calibrate our path to true north. The market can only bear what there is, not what we hope there is. And that is just the way it is. It is not so much about hope itself. It is more about what we see as being hope-worthy. Our dreams are not to discarded or set under a bushel basket. The children's Sunday school song that shouts joyfully," this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," is good for our collective souls.
    But many times our dreams don't want the burden of truth. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, " You are entitled to have your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts." But here we are. Up against a mighty wall of denial that we have built ourselves, wondering how we can get around it.
    If our success in life is predicated on our humanity itself as being an efficient marketing device, then I propose that we are in big trouble.The idea of marketing everything, from church attendance rates to the perception of how likely a terrorist attack will occur, to the fear that some Emir in the middle east will have a bad hair is no way to solve our big problems when they arise. They seem to be more about pretending that these issues don't even exist. We now live in very big world . Maybe it will takes more than a Burkeian shift to fundamentally alter our approach to our problem as a people to make a difference.Is there a bomb thrower in the house? Is Oliver Cromwell available to heal our nation as the Tea Party desires? Let's hold that bomb for a moment, please.

   Benjamin Franklin was the probably the  coolest of all the founding fathers. Maybe he and his 'Poor Richard' have something to say about our dilemma.. Franklin was America's original Renaissance Man. He was many things, including an opportunistic marketer when the situation called for it. But he always saw the fullness of his life and that of his peers. I wonder if we are as wise. The idea that he would see himself as chattel to be marketed by himself or others to the exclusion of his humanity would be foreign to Poor Richard or Silence Dogood.  But we seem to happily swim in this concept every day. Maybe to the point where we miss our selves in the process. Our humanity needs to be tied to something much more than a successful marketing campaign. Ben was many thing. But he wasn't a commodity  And he didn't look at other men and women as such. Maybe that is where we should start.
   The market is a great tool. Let's not make that tool a great big hammer. Maybe it is better seen as a mirror. We all know that mirrors can be a pain, especially when looked into first thing in the morning. But look we must. Let's hope that all we see there is more than simply Green.