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| Eddie_the_Kid
Posts: 2,545 Status: Lord Karma: +377 [+1] [-1]   |
Subject: My Initial Thoughts | |||||
| I am not going to argue if there is a problem or not, because in my opinion there is. However, what I would like to establish is the cause of the problem. There are lots of fingers being pointed and until the actual cause of the problem is determined then even if it the problem is fixed it can still happen all over again. A favorite in the blame game seems to be capitalism. This is so illogical that it boarders on insane ignorance. Capitalism does not actually exist. Never has and never will and you cannot place blame on something that does not exist. The reason is simple, for true capitalism to exist there must be a free market, however a free market is not sustainable and barely possible. What does exist are qualified versions of capitalism. Essentially perversons of capitalist ideals in order to cope with the fallacy of a free market. The qualification usually is a clue to how the government exercises its power within the market. For example, what exists in North America today is not capitalism but corporate capitalism. Does that mean that corporate capitalism itself is to blame? I would still say no. I think corporate capitalism is part of the end result, not part of cause. Nor do I think it would be wise to do away with capitalism altogether. What would be better would be to re-qualify our capitalist systems and do away with corporate capitalism. Tighter restrictions, regulations, and laws in favor of society as a whole, rather the corporations, would be a good start. Yes, much like corporate capitalism, the free market would still not exist, but it would mean a return to the other ideals of capitalism (free and open competition between consenting, autonomous, equal individuals within the market) that corporate capitalism seems to forgo to some degree. Something in favor of capitalism is that it has the capabilities of generating more wealth then any other economic system, wealth that has lead to the many medical, technological, and scientific advancements we have experienced. Keeping this ability to generate wealth, but with tighter restrictions on how it is generated and used can only lead to good for society. So, I have disqualified capitalism as the source of the problem, made it clear how the way that capitalism is qualified can make a big difference on how the economy functions, and even provided a argument as to why capitalism in some other qualified form should be kept around, but if capitalism is not to blame then who is? The other two most popular targets are specific corporations/banks and the government. Both of these groups are partially to blame for the situation as it stands and for the existence of corporate capitalism. They are indeed the ones that created and perverted the ideals of capitalism into its current qualified form. However, there is a third group that should take an equal share in the blame and yet seems to almost never come up in these discussions; the people. Democracy has not failed the people, the people have failed democracy. The masses have forgotten their civic duties and allowed the current situation to develop over decades. I ask when was the last time Canada or the US had acceptable voter turn outs? How many average people keep up with political matters during the time between elections? Part of the democratic process and your civic duty is to keep yourself informed, up to date, and active in the political world. People have failed here at every step for years and thus what many blindly accept as democracy is only a poor imitation. The pitfalls of a corporate capitalist system where made clear long ago, and yet the people stood back and complacently allowed the situation to develop to the current stage. This is an unavoidable problem regardless where you fall on the political spectrum. An example to prove this point is that Marx and Engels published their paper predicting the fall of capitalism at the hands of a labour revolution in 1848. Their answer for the problem was communism, which of course has many of its own problems, but at the very least it should have made the people realize, over 150 years ago, that changes need to be made. Did they? No. America has already experienced similar problems in its past with the railway barons. Was the lesson learned? No. Canada is no better in this regard. If the problem is to be truly fixed this time, then steps must be taken to prevent it from arising yet again. One of those key steps has to be for the people to accept their own share of the blame as well as that which should be placed at the feet of corporations and the government. If anything, the people are even more to blame in someways for allowing this to happen. The answer then? Educate yourself! Keep informed of political matters and new/current laws whenever possible. Be active, many more people need to be voting and better candidates need to be running for office. Be a good citizen and actually participate in the democratic process to the best of your abilities. Only then will we be able to prevent a similar situation as today where many feel that civil disobedience is the only option still available. We need to make these changes the right way before the ever get as bad as we have allowed them to develop now. If the occupy movement will achieve its goals or not remains to be seen, but we should not throw away capitalism by any means and we all, as societies, need to be much more proactive within the democratic process then recent generations have allowed themselves to be. |
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