A Primer for Delusional Voters in Several Easy Lessons, Lesson 1: Capitalism
I don't know how many of our readers s intend to vote in the next or any election, but if a vote is to be anything more than a shot in the dark at a tree rustling in the breeze, a citizen is morally obliged to spend a little time grappling with political realities, and to grapple with those realities, the place to begin is with those magic words, at the sound of which, all reasoning stops and the reptilian brain, fueled by fear-inducing hormones, takes over. So here, free of charge, is lesson 1:
Capitalism is not free enterprise, a way of life, or even a practical means of dealing with economic affairs. It is an -ism and thus a speculative theory, which may or may not correspond at some points to the reality of men and women in the real world. Citizens who celebrate capitalism should be forced to read Atlas Shrugged and join a Randian discussion group. Yes, it would be painful and disgusting--something like initiation into a biker gang--but at least you would have a glimmer of what capitalists think they are.
Here! Here! Nothing need be added to the above!
On the other hand, being forced to join a Randian discussion group and read Atlas Shrugged would be cruel and unusual punishment, would it not?
“it would be painful and disgusting–something like initiation into a biker gang–but at least you would have a glimmer of what capitalists think they are.”
Beautiful!! Even elegant. It doesn’t diminish the crude cruelty of communists either but simply sheds some light into the dark den where the notorious thieves gather.
A word denoting or connoting an ideology ending in”ism” or “ist” obscures more than it illuminates. Perhaps the immigration exam says our economy is “capitalist.”
What if we substituted “free market” for “capitalism?” No, still too complicated.
My clients would take me seriously when I would tell them my four year old grandson asked for part of my ham sandwich and I said yes but only if he would first shine my shoes. But there you have it. There is no free lunch.
So let’s substitute for “capitalism” as a descriptor on the immigration test to a “no free lunch” economic system. If the immigrant asked for proof, we could reply “it is only aspirational.”
The myth of the free market will be lesson # 2. “No Free Lunch” would be a clever twist, but imagine if we defined monarchy as a “no-anarchy” political system of salt as “non -GMO sugar free” seasoning? A free-market society is like a two-horned unicorn, which, A, has never existed, and B, is a contradiction in terms.