Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Ugly Capitalism

Capitalism pits everyone against everyone else, in the quest for wellbeing, happiness, safety and a variety of other and similar private interests; ultimately inducing a blindness to the larger community and its needs, the needs of the poor (who are then labeled as "losers"), all the while diminishing critical elements of human nature: viz., altruism, sacrifice, and mercy. 

There is, of course, no "economic system" pure and blameless; where there is money, property, and capital, of any kind, there will be a race to grab as much as one can. In the very nature of any such race, some will, for a million different reasons, mostly the luck of the draw, end up with more, and it's the more that allows them to further game the system and tilt the board to again further their private interests, until we end up with the ugly 1% who dominate the game completely.


Yet, some systems mitigate the worst instincts of our reptilian brain, and I'd offer that democratic socialism is one such system, combining the strength of a healthy competition, the race to get somewhere, and the discipline of paying attention to the larger community and its needs, the common good, which may well require one to put a damper on private interests for the sake of the long-term wellbeing of the environment and society.