Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on April 09, 2002 11:32 PM
I think you're on the right track, but let's look at the problem more broadly. I'd argue that it is not capitalism that smothers freedom, it is the concentration of power. That concentration could just as easily be (and historically often has been) from military strength, not only wealth.
In contemporary American politics, wealth brings power. (Whether you can have a capitalistic society in which extreme wealth does not bring extreme power is an interesting philosophical question. Pragmatically, I think with proper legal reform you may be able to get pretty close to that ideal; at least so far as the exercise of democracy goes). Currently, wherever there is a concentration of wealth, there is a concentration of power.
However, it is not the fault of capitalism that power corrupts, or that power smothers freedom. Such is the nature of concentrating power in the hands of a few. This is not unique to America or to capitalism. Indeed, this problem was well known to the Founding Fathers of the United States, and was the reason behind the system of "checks and balances" in the US Government structure. They attempted to use each of what we'd today call "special interests" to prevent any one interest from gaining too much power. Where the founding fathers went wrong was that they didn't anticipate the mass public having a significant stake in government - they viewed the problem as more of a clash of propertied interests. Regardless, we can see that the problem of concentrated power has been well-known for a long time.
Non-capitalist examples of power smothering freedom would include Communist governments throughout history. They were not capitalist; but were certainly oppressive of freedom, often more so than the United States has been.
And as you said, we need to stand up for our freedoms while we can.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
Re:Stand for freedom before it's too late
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 09, 2002 11:32 PMIn contemporary American politics, wealth brings power. (Whether you can have a capitalistic society in which extreme wealth does not bring extreme power is an interesting philosophical question. Pragmatically, I think with proper legal reform you may be able to get pretty close to that ideal; at least so far as the exercise of democracy goes). Currently, wherever there is a concentration of wealth, there is a concentration of power.
However, it is not the fault of capitalism that power corrupts, or that power smothers freedom. Such is the nature of concentrating power in the hands of a few. This is not unique to America or to capitalism. Indeed, this problem was well known to the Founding Fathers of the United States, and was the reason behind the system of "checks and balances" in the US Government structure. They attempted to use each of what we'd today call "special interests" to prevent any one interest from gaining too much power. Where the founding fathers went wrong was that they didn't anticipate the mass public having a significant stake in government - they viewed the problem as more of a clash of propertied interests. Regardless, we can see that the problem of concentrated power has been well-known for a long time.
Non-capitalist examples of power smothering freedom would include Communist governments throughout history. They were not capitalist; but were certainly oppressive of freedom, often more so than the United States has been.
And as you said, we need to stand up for our freedoms while we can.
#