[LostCause]

An American and an African both provide the same exact good. Just as oil has an innate "value," so too does human labor.

The problem is that innate "values" are meaningless as far as economies are concerned. While the pie is only so big at any given moment, it's distribution is not equalized. Oil has always been "expensive," but the United States has historically been able to convice the world it deserved a bigger, and thus cheaper share. Labor will always be "expensive," but somehow the world has convinced Africa to maintain a big, cheap labor pool.

The African ditch-digger makes less money because the world views him solely on economic terms. The value of his work is only equal to the value of the goods it can provide. With labor, oil, or any commodity, it is that kind of short-sidedness that drives many contemporary issues. Oil is hurting the American economy (i.e. each citizen's way of life), the environment, and stability because it is viewed solely in economic terms. Since economics disregards the true "value" of any given thing, it's only end is exploitation and destruction.

The problem is not that the African has nothing of worth, it is that the world sees nothing of worth in him.

Revolutions do not come from hurting pocketbooks, but rather hurting souls. Society will not be better off if conservation is stimulated primarily through economics. People can't be forced to live virtuously, they must realize its merits on their own.

- LostCause