Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Abandoning Capitalism

By Douglas V. Gibbs

In 2009, filmmaker Michael Moore released "Capitalism: A Love Story," taking target at the free market with worn out arguments that mirrored more the attitude of the old, and failed, Soviet Union, than it did the principles of the United States.  Capitalism is a system based on individuality and freedom, where the producer or laborer gets to keep more of what they earn, and own.  Under capitalism, the government is restricted from dictating to you what you must produce.  If a competitor wants to produce a similar material, they can.  Consumers are free to buy from you, or your competitor, which tends to drive prices down, and stimulate the level of quality, and the movement, of the product.  Capitalism enjoys restricted and minimal influence by the government, where tariffs and heavy regulations are limited, if in existence at all.  Those that oppose capitalism believes the market should be guided by government force, or coercion.  Capitalism means freedom.

Capitalism also creates innovation, encouraged by monetary incentive to produce a better product for increased profit.  Under government control, production becomes stagnant, and innovation is strangled into non-existence.  Under capitalism, the rich get richer, but so do the poor.  To keep up with demand, more products must be produced, which creates jobs, and rising wages.  America's prosperity is directly due to our history of capitalism.

Competition is a key component of capitalism, which is why left-leaning ideologies rail against the economic practice.  In a drive to create a world they deem to be "equal," they demand equal results and equal consequences.  Equality in misery is not equality.  It is misery.

In a capitalistic society, the results are not equal because everyone's journey is different.  Some innovations are a success, and some are a failure.  However, without government interference, the opportunity to chase one's dreams, in a society based on capitalism, is on equal footing for all.  The journey is equally difficult, and equally takes a lot of work, but for those that are not satisfied with a nine-to-five job where you make someone else money, the "if you don't succeed, try, try again" mantra is a key element that eventually will drive the entrepreneur to success.

Under an onslaught of leftist policies being perpetrated by the Democrat Party in the American government, there is a direct attempt to bring capitalism out of favor.  Students are taught by liberal left instructors that capitalism is damaging to our society, that wealth is a finite thing, and therefore the rich are getting richer on the backs of the poor.  It is no coincidence that those that are the loudest voices against capitalism, are also loud voices against the founding of this nation, and Christian principles.

The term, "capitalism," was coined by Karl Marx in an effort to demonize the free market economic system.  Capitalists adopted the term, without accepting Marx's context, proudly waving the flag of a free market.  Karl Marx, considered by many to be the father of communism, hated capitalism, and the liberty it stood for.  Marx believed in a system based on collectivism, placing the community above the needs of the individual.  Capitalism is based on freedom, rejecting the insertion of governmental force, or coercion by any other force outside of the free market.

Those who oppose capitalism tend to fall into two categories.  They are either citizens that have bought into the propaganda and believes that the freedom of capitalism are actually chains of bondage, or they are a business leader or politician who stands to gain money or power (or both) by using force and mercantilistic controls.  These are people who wish to use government to force the market in a direction of their desire in order to achieve their political and social goals (on the backs of the populace).

Socialism, the opposite economic condition from capitalism, seeks to use political aggression against the populace in order to force their version of social equity.  Socialism is violence against the market, enslaving the non-elite population, while controlling the populace through wage controls, production controls, and an atmosphere of dependency by the citizens upon the government.  Those that stand against capitalism wrongly define capitalism as a system that “exploits” the poor, when in reality it is them that is forcing the population into misery for their own personal furtherance.

Due to the violent nature in history of the forces that oppose capitalism, it is rightly understood that to stand against capitalism is to stand for violence, coercion, and governmental control, which then also makes such a position an attack on the heart and soul of Christian ethics.

Capitalists do not use violence and coercion by government to crush competition, and exploit the poor.

Supporters of anti-capitalist agendas argue that producers cannot be trusted to produce unless threatened by government, or that they will produce an inferior product unless coerced by government not to.  Manufacturers only care about the all-mighty dollar, they will tell you, and without government dictating the terms, a society is unable to produce and distribute goods properly.

The history of the United States states otherwise.

America became the most prosperous nation on earth because of its adherence to principles based on free market principles.  Socialism has failed time and time again, but capitalism has succeeded when not manipulated by socialist politicians.

The ideas behind the anti-capitalism movement in America today, spear-headed by the Democrat Party, supports the failed arguments that without control by the federal government, the greedy, immoral business owners would only produce low quality products at the highest prices.  They will tell you that the only thing standing between the greed of the producers and the poor consumers is the bureaucrats regulating businesses.  The anti-capitalism crowd also assumes consumers are stupid, and would always buy low quality at a high price if the bureaucrats were not making sure they were protected.

How could a business stay in business producing poor quality products at high prices?

The scenario the liberal left tries to paint would only be possible if there was no competition.  Competition between producers is encouraged by capitalism, and discouraged by socialism.

Common sense reveals that socialism projects what they are really about upon their opposition, trying to convince the public that the negative aspects of socialism are actually features of capitalism.  Uninformed people buy into the propaganda, and the great fabrication is then expanded and taught as fact, conditioning the populace to eventually turn against the very system that brought to them their prosperity.

Though the depravity of human beings exists, for our human nature is flawed according to Scripture, capitalism takes those human traits and turns them into positives.  Rather than being greedy businessmen only out to make a buck, under a capitalistic system these people become entrepreneurs following the incentive of profit to grow their business, which in turn moves products, creates jobs, and grows the economy.  In other words, putting the individual first is ultimately beneficial to the community.

The liberal left disagrees, placing the community first, believing that government control is necessary for the organization of society, transferring faith in individualism to communitarianism as defined by the overseers in government.

The United States founding generation believed in Divine Providence, self-reliance, personal responsibility, and hard work, not just because of the wisdom they held, but because of their own history.  Many of the colonies attempted instituting a communal system, and every time the result was misery, failure, and death.  Jamestown, after 700 colonists arrived in the New World, had only 50 people survive the failure of a socialist style system.  When they changed their economy to a free market, where the land owner kept what he earned, and then took his excess to market, it encourage a hardier work ethic, and incentivised efficiency.  Individuals, when in competition, are always encouraged to work harder with creativity and integrity, ultimately providing goods and services that benefit the lives of others. We will always find ways to produce better goods than our competitor and will bend over backwards to do so at a lower cost. In our efforts to get the business of others, we will improve the lives of our customers, because we know that where there is liberty, our customers have the freedom to shop elsewhere, and other Americans have the freedom to start a business which will sell what consumers demand.

Those that oppose capitalism have been considered the enemy for a long time.  Calling Americans "Capitalist Pigs" by the Soviets only emboldened us to cling more to our free market system.  Today, however, it is the socialist elite that call us capitalist pigs, and the public has fallen for the rhetoric after a lifetime of liberal left conditioning in the school system, and by the entertainment and news media leftists on the idiot box.

We are used to hearing names like billionaire George Soros trying to stick capitalism in the eye, but now the radical perspective of anti-capitalism has been going mainstream.

The communists have infiltrated our system, and now they teach the ways of failure.

In London in late May, at a conference on “Inclusive Capitalism,” a gathering of elitists took place, calling our world situation of economic failure “the capitalist threat to capitalism.”

The attendees have come to the conclusion that capitalism, “has often proved dysfunctional in important ways. It often encourages shortsightedness, contributes to wide disparities between the rich and the poor, and tolerates the reckless treatment of environmental capital. If these costs cannot be controlled, support for capitalism may disappear.”

The problems have not arisen because of capitalism, however, but as the result of socialist tinkering with capitalism.  Facts, however, do not dissuade people like those seated at this function.  Even Prince Charles, yes, the assumed future King of England, said that the triumphalism of capitalism when the Soviet Union collapsed had been a mistake and that “the long-term job of capitalism is to serve people, rather than the other way around.”

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and the keynote speaker, quoted both Karl Marx’s prediction that capitalism “carried the seeds of its own destruction,” and Pope Francis’ characterization of increasing inequality as “the root of social evil.” She came out against a favorite centrist reaction to rising inequality—“that ultimately we should care about equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.” The problem, Madame Lagarde said, was that opportunity could never be equal in a deeply unequal society. She called for more progressive income tax systems and greater use of property tax.

The plutocrats accused capitalists of being the plutocrats, calling for a global system to control the economies of the world, and to stop capitalism.

Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin would be proud.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

No comments: