When none of this brings the promised happiness and fulfillment, we turn to
drink, or pills, or counselors, or divorce court and seek significance in
new things and relationships on what quickly becomes a personal boulevard of
broken dreams.
We can't say we haven't been warned about this endless pursuit of stuff. The
writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, "Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. ŠAs goods increase,
so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except
to feast his eyes on them?" (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11)
When wants and needs are confused, desires become entitlements and
politicians are afraid to tell people what they need to hear. Instead they
tell them what they want to hear. Anger and envy result, as well as
frustration with a political system that was not designed to indulge its
citizens in their lusts or subsidize their greed.
Who will tell us that unending and expanding prosperity with home values
constantly rising and a citizenry always able to afford them is a fantasy
that is bound to end in heartache for those who buy into it?
The economy isn't bad. We are bad for believing that more is better and the
most is best. We have an abundance of things, but a deficit of character.
The economy is a false god, a golden calf. When this false god doesn't
deliver, we complain to politicians who are happy to accept our faith in
them to give us what we want - if we will only pledge to them our allegiance
at election time.