I'm taking 'are left-wing Mutachians hypocrites' as an attack rather than some legitimate request for information. Just because we aren’t complete Buddhist renunciates and giving up all possessions, giving up all electricity use or perfect, how dare we talk about protecting the environment, having more egalitarian society or health care system. How dare these liberals say, maybe we could live our lives in a way more compatible with long term care for future generations of the planet, use more renuables, have health care for all citizens, while we also earn and amass personal wealth as efficiently as possible.
A large part of Mutachianism seem to be finding logical, efficient, rational ways of living personally, financially and as a society. The same desire for efficient living personally also applies to wanting society to work efficiently. Sartre viewed morality as emerging out of this choice of making ethical decisions as if you were having to decide for all people, as no morality exists a priori, with freedom and responsibilty. Aside from ethical concerns, having universal healthcare for all is actually cheaper for society because of the costs of having preventative medicine rather that untreated severe problems requiring help. Many other countries seem to be able to do it cheaper and more effectively, with the added bonus of caring for our fellow citizens is ethical. I work with frequent users of the ER and the hospitals, preventative care would save everyone a lot of resources. So helping people treat early problems before they become diabetics, have more severe cancer, and show up repeatedly at your ER’s is cheaper for society. Educate and feed people, give prenatal care rather than imprison or care for them later. If you don’t believe in the utility of preventative care, stop brushing your teeth.
Sometimes collectively buying things is cheaper for society, in the same way that a bunch of us buying several large pizzas with coupons is much cheaper per person than buying your own small pizza, even if a few of our friends didn’t bring cash to chip in. While we are trying to live effectively and do well financially, we can still hold the view that higher taxes overall would be good for society and the economy, as better off poor and middle class spend more money and create more jobs/services with higher velocity of money, than having wealth concentrated with just a few very rich.
I can try to do my best under the current rules of the game amass wealth, out of worry for myself and family, while also strongly believing there is a better way for society that I would be glad to adapt to. I believe that wealth allows investments, investments appreciate and generate income faster than work. Thus stocks and real estate generate income greatly eclipsing what income I could earn on my own. Thinking that this ‘Capital Gains’ should be taxed at a higher NOT lower rate as wealth inequality grows worse, while continuing to increase my own investments I believe makes me honest and moral, not a hypocrite. Saying we should try as a society and individual to pollute less, while still driving and only getting 46 miles per gallon, rather than sitting inside without electricity, I think makes me an adult with a sense of responsibility aware of my own failings or areas of my life I would like to improve, not a hypocrite. It is possible to believe our Country worked better after the New Deal social programs of the 30's than during the periods of the Robber Barrons and Gilded Age, while out of concern for my own personal and family wealth trying to earn as much as possible, out of fear things will get pushed much worse, the safety nets will get further eroded.
I would be ok if my taxes were higher, and the very rich had level of taxes they might have paid 30 years ago, but we get to keep school lunch programs, funding for the arts, better infrastructure, and other things. I would love those services and as a bonus think jobs are created, rather than having some philosophical supply-side purity that says it's criminal to ask the Walton family to pay a bit more in taxes or pharmaceutical companies profiteering get reigned in.
The US previously had much higher tax rates particularly on the rich, real wages have stagnated in the past 40 years for all but the very top and taxes have gone down. I believe the economy works better when wealth is better distributed, laws protect the environment, and that government projects despite inefficiencies like paying decent wages work better than corporatist greed. The fact I hold these beliefs while not being an ascetic doesn’t cause me too much cognitive dissonance. Warren Buffet amassing wealth while calling for higher taxes on the rich and giving to charity, makes him more moral than the Walton family advocating for lower taxes, not a ‘hypocrite’. Holding a nuanced rather than simplistic black and white, polarized stance is part of thinking about issue, and how we can all come together. I’ll refrain from starting a thread, asking about right wing Mustachians with some pejorative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM