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Rethinking Capitalism…Part One.
And Socialism. And life.
I had an epiphany regarding Capitalism and Socialism some years ago, but getting it into simple words is not something I’m good at. But today, I think I hit upon the crux of the matter:
Right now we have life supporting institutions. Instead, we should have institutions supporting life.
It doesn’t have to be like this. So, let’s examine capitalism, socialism, and life. Let’s see where we can find the common ground, and more importantly, the myopia.
Because there is a LOT of myopia! And this is one occasion where “bothsiderism” applies. While I think, and have good evidence, that the American Left has the best ideas, they largely ignore certain realities regarding how rapidly we can change and evolve systems. We want change, we need change, and we realize that it must be fast or many will perish. But we, I believe, are focusing on the wrong levers.
Capitalists, on the other hand, have a rather different and rather more fundamental myopia. We have heard (as echoed by Friedman and many others), that the moral obligation of a corporation is to make money for its shareholders. Nothing else.
Which is why capitalism as a social system simply cannot work in the long term. But…
