Capitalism and/or Socialism
The group was discussing capitalism and socialism so I made these comments.
Capitalism (I prefer the term “Free Market Society”) is based on competition and because the average person is fairly competitive this works well in a free society. The thing that sabotages it is that idealists do not like competition and they hate the end results of some getting ahead more than others. Thus you always have “do-gooders” in power seeking to regulate and control to the extent that its effectiveness is diminished.
The other thing that hurts capitalism is human weakness. Many, instead of merely competing, will crush their enemies, create dishonest Ponzi schemes, cook the books, etc.
But even with its flaws it is the most productive system produced so far and its apotheosis still has not been reached. Ayn Rand was correct in calling it “The Unknown Ideal.” The ideal capitalistic system has not yet been demonstrated or achieved. This needs to yet be accomplished.
Wikipedia gives a good definition of socialism:
“Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation.”
The ideal of socialism points us in the direction of a society that is motivated by cooperation, rather than competition. After capitalism has served its purpose it will be replaced by a cooperative society that retains the best ingredients of capitalism while having cooperation as the main motivational force.
If socialism points us in the right direction then why has it never succeeded?
The answer is simple. There are only a handful of people on the planet who have as their prime motivation the principle of cooperation. Because we live in a world of apparent scarcity we are forced to compete for abundance so almost all people need a reasonable material incentive before them to compete and thrive.
Because few are able to comprehend or practice a truly cooperative effort the only way idealists can get people to practice socialism or communism is through force. You have a forced central command, forced distribution, forced sharing and forced cooperation. In other words, in almost every case you have a takeover from the Beast of unjust authority.
I say almost, because there are groups like the Amish who do not use totalitarian force. They let their children go out into the world to experience the other side and then chose which is better for them. In the general; world of socialism the norm is more like Cuba where people are forced to conform and not allowed to leave.
Some common sense people look at the failures of socialism, or anything that centers on cooperative effort, and assume it is just evil or flat out wrong and should be outlawed, or at least avoided like the plague.
But if we set up a system where socialism was prohibited we would be giving the Beast power just as forced socialism does today.
There is no greater evil than to take that which is good and enforce it with totalitarian power. In such case all that is good vanishes and is replaced with tyranny and poor management.
There are an unlimited number of ways to put together a successful cooperative system, but to create such a system three ingredients must be present.
[1] The Good of the Whole.
A people must be gathered together who have a higher-than-average consciousness, are fairly unselfish and willing to cooperate. Rather than blindly following they must understand the principle that when the good of the whole dominates the good of the individual is nourished.
The cells in our bodies are a prime example. The body can live without millions of individual cells, but the cells cannot live if the body itself dies. The cooperative-minded person understands this principle and is motivated by it.
[2] Maximum Freedom.
Everything created and applied must be done with the idea of maximum freedom for both the individual and the group. People will always be free to join the society or to leave it.
[3] Incentive.
Even though the good of the whole provides some incentive that is not enough for even advanced souls in our point of evolution. The individual must see positive results that reward him as an individual for sustained service to be maintained.
If we can bring back the United States (or another country) to a situation where maximum freedom prevails then we will see experiments where groups join together and experiment with many different forms of cooperative effort and pure capitalism. Eventually, we will see the ideal capitalism as well as successful socialistic systems where no one (or few) complains of lack of freedom.
An important point to remember is this. As the situation changes that which produces incentive to work changes.
In primitive times survival itself was the basis of that which produced incentive to labor.
In the days of kings it was often to get favor in the King’s eyes.
In a capitalistic system the incentive is to get paid and obtain the things we need and want.
But then what happens when society becomes effective enough to produce abundance for all? What happens to incentive then? If the individual has all the material goods he wants then he no longer has incentive to labor for material things. He then sets his sights on the socialistic goal of laboring for the good of the whole as the needs of self are taken care of.
When the days of abundance come then we shall see the successful ideal of cooperative effort succeed through free will.
I look forward to that time.
“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” — Kurt Vonnegut (1922 – 2007)
March 27, 2009
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