Repost: Observations on Capitalism

Capitalism, like Communism, is inherently neither good nor bad. It is a tool which we utilize, and how we utilize it decides its worth. Unfortunately, as with many of our other tools (wealth, technology, self awareness), people are severely unprepared for dealing/living/working in such a system. Some of this unpreparedness has to do with the conscious evolution of our species, but a great deal of it is also linked to our massively underdeveloped (and tightly constrained) educational system. More still, how society raises us to feel about other living things greatly affects our sense of responsibility with people, nature, and society itself. We abuse our economic system (as we abuse wealth, technology, and our capabilities for self awareness & whether or not we strengthen said awareness.)

Therefore, we regulate our economic system, making it not true capitalism but a mixed market economy. People, in their constant abuse of wealth and self worth, see regulation as a threat to their ability to gain MORE MORE MORE, regardless of how impossible and damaging that constant gain is. (Quite literally, we have limited resources and limited labor, grand though both may be.) Meanwhile, much of our regulation is geared toward helping money grow as opposed to avoiding abuse. It's juuust enough to keep the rest of the country from flipping tables over how badly we've destroyed our environment; the damage we've caused to peoples in South America, Africa, and Asia; and the destruction we've brought upon our own values, physical health, and emotional health. We want things more desperately than we want health. We want convenience more desperately than we want peace. Arguably, we've done this to ourselves.

The Kayapo being expelled from their homes for the construction of the Belo Monte Dam,
which will flood 400.000 acres of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.

There is another factor, of course. We are carefully sculpted to think this way. After all, this behavior is most profitable for private businesses and for governments, alike. Private business has become so important that it has the same rights as living, breathing people. For example, human beings are losing the right to know what private businesses are feeding them. We're in a fight right now to require the labeling of GMOs, and Monsanto is spending millions of dollars to make sure the public doesn't know they're being killed by the company which feeds them and profits from their ignorance. There is no government effort to protect us, despite the regulation supposedly meant to keep this kind of greedy behavior from harming us. In order for the richest few to remain this way, we must be kept under tighter and tighter control. We must be raised to think it's okay to encourage our children to be violent, slutty, wasteful, and morbidly obese; because then we'll buy up all the military games, bratz dolls, cheetos, and (eventually) Hummers without bothering batting an eye. There's no economic need to instill other values in our children along the way. Thinking this way moves money along, and it supports the companies which support our politicians.

Amendment flier for California, 2012.

Most importantly, however, we must see how the cycle feeds back on itself. The reason we are kept in such a state is because it's not enough to maintain one's wealth. Once a person has grown accustomed to constant growth and wealth, it's never enough. This is the human weakness that encouraged regulation on Capitalism in the first place.

MORE MORE MORE. At the expense of all else. That is why we can't "handle" capitalism. Or communism. Or socialism. For various reasons, we can't handle freedom. We continue to elect assholes to make decisions for us, because we're raised to think only rigid, controlling assholes are the right kinds of people to be leaders. We do it to ourselves.

But do not confuse my hypothesis with hopelessness or pessimism. Rather, I am recognizing a core of the issue. Altering our values, our attitudes toward living things, and our attitudes toward cooperation within systems must become a top priority. (See article, "Cooperation Is a Key To Intelligence.")
In order to create better systems, we must become better people. It starts with us, as individuals. I have to make the decision for myself. I cannot make it for anyone else. I cannot force it on anyone. Trying to do so paints my intent in a negative light and destroys it. I can live the example and help to educate people. I can encourage.

So, arguing about whether any of these existing economic systems are good or bad is a losing battle, in my opinion. We have to make something sustainable. Something new. We have to live the lifestyle we want others to mirror. And we have to hold each other accountable. When Person A abuses his/her power and lessens the quality of life for Person B, we cannot just sit idly by, no matter who profits from Person A's behavior. Agreeing on these basic points is arguably several steps back from being able to point to an existing, fully developed economic system or budget plan, but we've been needing to go back to the drawing board for a while. We keep ignoring the root causes and focusing on the symptoms/effects of the disease.