Several of my friends have been discussing capitalism recently. More than one person, including myself, opined that it is inconsistent with Christianity because it is based on greed and the exploitation of labor. Others disagreed, saying that capitalism is rather based on private property and self-interest and when done correctly, a free market can benefit all parties involved by creating unlimited wealth essentially out of thin air, albeit with ingenuity and a lot of hard work. This is the position taken by one of my favorite libertarian authors, Dr. Mary Ruwart, who insists that capitalism is the best system to generate wealth for everyone and allow the poor to climb up out of poverty. However, Dr. Ruwart admits that this can only happen when we have a firm foundation in the Non-aggression Principle (see below).
I've been poor myself as a result of disability, and managed to claw my way up out of poverty into the barely-middle-class only by the grace of God and the help of my family, as I'd fallen completely through the "social safety net" such as it is. After several years living well below the poverty line, my SSDI application having been denied, I finally obtained a contract working from home for a good company. But I cannot say whether my poverty and/or my eventual success was because of, or in spite of capitalism.
The question then arose, "what is the difference between greed and self-interest?" Self-interest in the classical sense held by Locke and Hume is simply the natural human motivation for self preservation and to better one's own life, but does not exclude benefiting others as well. Greed, or covetousness, is unrestrained or excessive desire to get whatever we want no matter if we exploit, defraud or hurt anybody else in the process.
A related concept which is important to me as a yogi, a Christian and an anarchosocialist is "enlightened self-interest." This term relates to the Golden Rule, "Treat others as you would want to be treated," the Non-aggression Principle, "Don't do anything to others that you would not want done to you," or as Dr. Ruwart calls it, the Good Neighbor Policy. The Dalai Lama explains this as simple compassion, the heartfelt understanding that all people share our desire to be happy and free from harm or coercion.
On an esoteric level, the yogic model says there is only one Consciousness in the universe, one supreme Self, manifesting in and through each of us, therefore we are ultimately One. This is reflected in Jesus' command to "love your neighbor as yourself" if taken literally, or if figuratively, to put oneself in our neighbor's shoes, again, the Golden Rule. Despite our many differences, deep down we all want the same things.
On a practical level, enlightened self-interest is the awareness that, simply put, everything works better for all of us when everybody agrees to play nice. This is certainly desirable in a capitalist society, to bring out the best features of the system and make it work as optimally as possible for everyone. But it would be absolutely essential for a stateless or anarchistic society based on voluntary cooperation. In the absence of "enlightenment," without a centralized government in the role of Daddy, Mommy, Nanny or Babysitter to enforce "playing nice," we would have "anarchy" in the negative sense of chaos and destruction, (which unfortunately happens to be the definition that most people think of), where greed runs rampant and the powerful freely prey upon the weak.
While classical liberals understood that in civilized society compassion should go hand-in-hand with "self-interest," it could be argued at least in the context of modern society that if we remove the "enlightened" part, the line between greed and self-interest could quickly become blurry. Examples of this include the philosophies of author Ayn Rand and her followers, and Anton LaVey, who based his Church of Satan on her writings, saying, “My religion is just Ayn Rand’s philosophy with ceremony and ritual added.” Without compassion, absolute freedom necessarily allows exploitation of others.
This is the problem I have with Tea Party capitalism. It is also the reason why I acknowledge that my ideal of anarchosocialism is currently as realistic as riding a unicorn. Society at large is not "enlightened" enough. Humanity would need to evolve into compassion. We are not there yet and frankly, I don't know if we ever will be. I'd like to think that it is possible if we can meanwhile manage to avoid blowing ourselves to smithereens whether by conventional and/or nuclear weapons in our global pursuit of greed. Maybe, just maybe, someday we actually can learn to love one another and live together on this planet in liberty, peace and harmony. But I'm not holding my breath.
That is why, although the card in my wallet says "Libertarian," I nearly always vote Democrat, usually as the Lesser of Evils, although I supported Bernie Sanders 100%. And the only reason I chose that Party when I registered to vote at age 18, being a fan of the Tao te Ching, Leo Tolstoy, Emma Goldman and Noam Chomsky, is because "Anarchosocialist" was not among the options and liberty was my #1 concern. But like I said, we're not there yet. Let's take baby steps in that direction while we learn to grow in compassion.
I've been poor myself as a result of disability, and managed to claw my way up out of poverty into the barely-middle-class only by the grace of God and the help of my family, as I'd fallen completely through the "social safety net" such as it is. After several years living well below the poverty line, my SSDI application having been denied, I finally obtained a contract working from home for a good company. But I cannot say whether my poverty and/or my eventual success was because of, or in spite of capitalism.
The question then arose, "what is the difference between greed and self-interest?" Self-interest in the classical sense held by Locke and Hume is simply the natural human motivation for self preservation and to better one's own life, but does not exclude benefiting others as well. Greed, or covetousness, is unrestrained or excessive desire to get whatever we want no matter if we exploit, defraud or hurt anybody else in the process.
A related concept which is important to me as a yogi, a Christian and an anarchosocialist is "enlightened self-interest." This term relates to the Golden Rule, "Treat others as you would want to be treated," the Non-aggression Principle, "Don't do anything to others that you would not want done to you," or as Dr. Ruwart calls it, the Good Neighbor Policy. The Dalai Lama explains this as simple compassion, the heartfelt understanding that all people share our desire to be happy and free from harm or coercion.
On an esoteric level, the yogic model says there is only one Consciousness in the universe, one supreme Self, manifesting in and through each of us, therefore we are ultimately One. This is reflected in Jesus' command to "love your neighbor as yourself" if taken literally, or if figuratively, to put oneself in our neighbor's shoes, again, the Golden Rule. Despite our many differences, deep down we all want the same things.
On a practical level, enlightened self-interest is the awareness that, simply put, everything works better for all of us when everybody agrees to play nice. This is certainly desirable in a capitalist society, to bring out the best features of the system and make it work as optimally as possible for everyone. But it would be absolutely essential for a stateless or anarchistic society based on voluntary cooperation. In the absence of "enlightenment," without a centralized government in the role of Daddy, Mommy, Nanny or Babysitter to enforce "playing nice," we would have "anarchy" in the negative sense of chaos and destruction, (which unfortunately happens to be the definition that most people think of), where greed runs rampant and the powerful freely prey upon the weak.
While classical liberals understood that in civilized society compassion should go hand-in-hand with "self-interest," it could be argued at least in the context of modern society that if we remove the "enlightened" part, the line between greed and self-interest could quickly become blurry. Examples of this include the philosophies of author Ayn Rand and her followers, and Anton LaVey, who based his Church of Satan on her writings, saying, “My religion is just Ayn Rand’s philosophy with ceremony and ritual added.” Without compassion, absolute freedom necessarily allows exploitation of others.
This is the problem I have with Tea Party capitalism. It is also the reason why I acknowledge that my ideal of anarchosocialism is currently as realistic as riding a unicorn. Society at large is not "enlightened" enough. Humanity would need to evolve into compassion. We are not there yet and frankly, I don't know if we ever will be. I'd like to think that it is possible if we can meanwhile manage to avoid blowing ourselves to smithereens whether by conventional and/or nuclear weapons in our global pursuit of greed. Maybe, just maybe, someday we actually can learn to love one another and live together on this planet in liberty, peace and harmony. But I'm not holding my breath.
That is why, although the card in my wallet says "Libertarian," I nearly always vote Democrat, usually as the Lesser of Evils, although I supported Bernie Sanders 100%. And the only reason I chose that Party when I registered to vote at age 18, being a fan of the Tao te Ching, Leo Tolstoy, Emma Goldman and Noam Chomsky, is because "Anarchosocialist" was not among the options and liberty was my #1 concern. But like I said, we're not there yet. Let's take baby steps in that direction while we learn to grow in compassion.
No comments:
Post a Comment