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Economics Notes

By John Taylor; 2008 March 29, 09 Baha, 165 BE

Yesterday I drove Thomas to J.L. Mitchener School in Cayuga; he had been chosen along with another classmate to participate in an inter-school enrichment event called Mindsparklers. (His comment: it was like jail -- get it, J.L., Jail Mitchener?) Then I got distracted from writing my usual daily essay by a session comparing songs on YouTube, subject of interest being a French song called "La Mer," which was the finale of the latest Mr. Bean movie, along with its more romantic English version, Beyond the Sea, featured in Searching for Nemo.

My lover stands on golden sands,
And watches the ships that go sailing.
Somewhere beyond the sea,
She's there watching for me,
If I could fly like birds on high,
Then straight to her arms I'd go sailing.

It is a consummate male vocalist song, but a female group called Celtic Woman does a wonderful version too. Taken all in all, I like the French version better, what with its nostalgia for a childhood lived next to the ocean. It reminds one of the "ocean" of God's Word, in which Baha'is immerse ourselves morn and eve.

In the afternoon I watched Michael Moore's latest, Sicko. I had put off watching this feature documentary until it was moved out of the new movie section of the video store. I just cannot stand hearing about any more American sellouts, especially their hopelessly racist, corrupt and cruel health care system. It was not as funny as I expected, based on his earlier films. The most interesting parts were in the DVD extras, (http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/dvd/extras.html), especially the interviews with Che Guevara's daughter and of a retired English labor party politician, both of whom gave excellent little socialism 101 seminars for the benefit of Americans, most of whom seem never to have heard anything left of what in other developed nations is an extreme right-wing lunatic fringe.

The best added DVD feature of all was "This Country Beats France," which is about Norway, the number one rated country in the world for most of the things dealt with in Sicko, as well as in a bonus, penal reform. It features an unbelievably enlightened prison, one that might have been designed by Abdu'l-Baha Himself, where guards and prisoners work in the fields together, and where independence and responsibility are daily bread. The kicker, after featuring a murderer who is hopelessly mollycoddled, is to hear that Norway not only has the highest number of female elected representatives in parliament and the world's best health care provisions, it also has the lowest murder rate in the world, bar none. This short film should be required watching for everyone, everywhere. The moral is simple: not only are greed and cruelty immoral, they are also counterproductive. As Jesus said, he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.

I have been reading an excellent article by Farhad Rassekh in the Journal of Baha'i Studies, December, 2001, "The Baha'i Faith and the Market Economy." It sheds light on Sicko and other reading. Rasseckh cites the Guardian in a quote I have not been able to find in Ocean, the Web, or anywhere else. According to him, Shoghi Effendi wrote:

"In the Baha'i economic system of the future, private ownership will be retained, but will be controlled, regulated, and even be restricted. Complete socialization is not only impossible but most unjust, and in this the Cause is in fundamental disagreement with the extreme socialists and communists. It cannot also agree with the other extreme tendency, represented by "Laissez faire" or individualistic school of economics which became very popular in the late eighteenth century, by the so-called democratic countries. For absolute freedom, even in the economic sphere, leads to confusion and corruption, and acts not only to the detriment of the state, or the collectivity, but inevitably results in the end in jeopardizing the very interests of the individual himself." (Rassekh, Journal, 48)

The source given is page 106 of Hooshmand Badii, The True Foundation of All Economics: A Compilation, Alprint-Ainsworth Association, Kitchener, Ontario, 1993. Has anybody seen this publication? If authentic, it is significant that the Guardian used the qualifier, "so-called" democratic countries. While I failed to uncover where this quote came from, while searching, others jumped into my face. Here are some of the more incisive comments I found from the Guardian on the future economic system.

"'Abdu'l-Baha has developed in various of His talks, which the Baha'i economic system would be based ... (a) system that prevents among others the gradual control of wealth in the hands of a few and the resulting state of both extremes, wealth and poverty." (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Lights of Guidance, p. 548)

"...the Cause neither accepts the theories of ... Capitalistic economics in full, nor can it agree with the Marxists and Communists in their repudiation of the principle of private ownership and of the vital sacred rights of the individual." (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, June 10, 1930, in Lights of Guidance, p. 549)

"As to your fourth question, Shoghi Effendi believes that it is preferable not to confuse the methods explained by the Master with present systems. They may have many resemblances but also many points of difference. Moreover these general statements we have in the teachings have to be explained and applied by the House of Justice before we can really appreciate their significance." (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, October 21, 1932, Lights of Guidance, p. 548)

In view of what the Guardian says here, that the UHJ will flesh out the economic teachings further, here is some guidance which has already come from them.

"The amelioration of the conditions of the world requires the reconstruction of human society and efforts to improve the material well-being of humanity. The Baha'i approach to this task is evolutionary and multifaceted, involving not only the spiritual transformation of individuals but the establishment of an administrative system based on the application of justice, a system which is at once the "nucleus" and the "pattern" of the future World Order, together with the implementation of programmes of social and economic development that derive their impetus from the grass roots of the community. (WOB, 144) Such an integrated approach will inevitably create a new world, a world where human dignity is restored and the burden of inequity is lifted from the shoulders of humanity. Then will the generations look back with heartfelt appreciation, for the sacrifices made by Baha'is and non-Baha'is alike, during this most turbulent period in human history." (The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 663)