Happiness committee offers food for thought

California Assemblymember Anthony Rendon has a plan to make happiness a central tenet to policymaking. His Select Committee on Happiness in Public Policy Outcomes recently held its first public hearing. This is the first such group in the nation. I applaud his efforts.

While recently making some of my own personal happiness by sweeping twigs and leaves from the wheelchair ramp at the beautiful Bon Air Landing Park in Greenbrae, I chatted with another immigrant, a woman named Rita from Argentina. We discussed the beauties of Greenbrae, but soon discovered a shared view of the United States as a very uncaring nation.

The woman wondered why we elevate abortion fights but seemingly ignore the unhoused. She asked why our nation seems incapable of doing more to help.

In the United States, national legislators don't discuss the inequalities and inequities underlying the unhoused enough. I also think issues related to poverty, poor schools, drug deaths, high fetal and infant mortality rates should be examined often. Elected officials seem to make gestures and throw out a few “patch” solutions. Some offer prayers.

In 1868, author Horatio Alger birthed his stories of the self-made man, the myth of the impoverished boy rising to middle class through good works. But there is no selfmade person. We are each born into a cultural situation that largely determines who we are. Today, our rapidly evolving technology presents endless new opportunities. The first people to notice harvest the bounty.

These freshly minted billionaires wouldn't have a nickel if it wasn't for our culture. If we taxed accordingly, these opportunistic innovators would still be richer than Croesus, while society would be properly compensated.

I hope Rendon's committee discusses these questions:

What kind of society do we want? How might we get that? What will we do today to move in that direction?

— Barry Phegan, Greenbrae