-Caveat Lector-
The Contradictions of Capitalism
The Dearth of Rational Discussion
by Jim Peron
We can’t win. We advocates of individual rights, free markets and limited
government simply can’t win the intellectual debate with the Left. And the
reason for it is that there is no intellectual debate with them. And there
can’t be such a debate since the Left is simply not open to rational
discussion. They know that capitalism is inherently evil and nothing that is
said, no evidence that is presented, no facts that are marshaled will
convince them otherwise.
Fabians
Consider this example. The Fabian socialists were founded in 1883, the same
year that Karl Marx died, when a small group of “intellectuals” gathered at
17 Osnaburgh Street in London to hear some lectures on the promised new world
order of socialism. From this meeting was formed the Fabian Society,
dedicated to the willfully slow evolution of a socialist society in England.
The Society was named after the Roman general and dictator Quintus Fabius
Maximus who fought, and laid the groundwork for the defeat of, Hannibal. In
Fabian Tract No.1 the Society explained its strategy:
“For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently when
warring against Hannibal, though many censured his delays; but when the time
comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in vain
and fruitless.”
The credo of the Fabians said that the society “consists of Socialists” who
will work to destroy private property, free markets and individualism.
Fabians were a strong, if not the strongest, influence on the British Labour
Party and used the likes of George Bernard Shaw and Sidney and Beatrice Webb
to spout its propaganda on the virtues of Stalinism and Soviet Communism. Its
list of members read like the Who’s Who of British intellectualism and
included RH Tawney, GDH Cole, Harold Wilson, Harold Laski, Oswald Mosley (the
founder of British fascism), Bertrand Russell, Clement Attlee, John Strachey,
Stephen Spender, George Orwell, and others.
For over a century the Fabian Society has continued to promote a Marxist
agenda for the various countries of the world. At the turn of the last
century the Fabians would wax eloquently on the virtues of socialism and the
vices of capitalism. They never tired of telling anyone who would listen how
capitalism would lead to poverty and misery for the bulk of England's
workers. They promised that only a socialist, centrally planned society,
could achieve wealth and prosperity. The workers, noted the socialists, could
never find happiness and self-satisfaction as long as they were entrenched in
the poverty of a capitalist economy.
One hundred years later the Fabian Society stills exists. And not long ago,
on BBC World, I watched a documentary series entitled “Big Ideas”. It was
billed as an antidote to the pessimism of the politically correct. In truth
it was hardly that at all. Instead the entire show concentrated on an
“economist” who represents the Fabian Society. So what do the Fabians have
to say 100 years later? Will they continue with their rhetoric of the last
century and castigate capitalism for leading millions into poverty? Of course
not. The laughter from the millions of “workers” viewing the show on their
color televisions would drown out their rhetoric.
Capitalism Causes Too Much Prosperity
Instead this Fabian went on about how the wealth of capitalism doesn’t lead
to happiness. This “economist” lamented the luxuries of the average worker.
He ridiculed those who work hard to get ahead in the world. And he said that
this problem was clearly the fault of capitalism. It seems that capitalism
leads to prosperity. In fact it leads to too much prosperity. People start
seeking out luxuries, and status symbol consumer goods, as a result.
When it was pointed out to him that individuals who didn’t want to work hard
didn’t have to do so, he was unpersuaded. The problem with the wealth of
consumer capitalism is that the system itself forces people to compete. The
individual who wants to drop out, perhaps to read the works of Marx, can’t do
so because of the structure of the system. He is a victim of capitalism.
People should, instead, be free to concentrate on the “important” things, by
which he means things which he thinks are important.
And, of course, the solution to this structural problem was the “social
ownership” of the means of production. He wanted regulations and laws to
prevent rampant competition and wealth-gathering.
Now just about one century ago his forerunners in the Fabian Society were
saying that capitalism leads to poverty and that only socialism can create
wealth for the workers. Turning a blind eye to a century of rhetoric, today’s
Fabians are attacking capitalism for creating too much wealth. A century ago
the worker, living in poverty, would never find happiness. Today the Fabians
argue that happiness is illusive because of the temptations of the riches
created by capitalism.
Of course we shouldn’t forget that one complaint that socialists loved to
voice was that capitalism led to monopoly. They were utterly convinced (by
what we will never know) that a market economy would mean less and less
competition as time went by. Eventually competition would disappear
altogether and the poor consumer would be at the mercy of ruthless
profit-mongers. Yet a century later the Fabians are condemning capitalism for
creating too much competition. The poor entrepreneur doesn’t have time to
smell the roses, red ones of course, along the way. Either capitalism is
guilty of dog-eat-dog competition or it results in monopoly without any
competition. Have I missed something?
Capitalism Destroys the Planet
Of course the Green allies of the Reds have similar complaints. We all know
that capitalism is destroying the planet Just take the matter of
“non-renewable” resources. The Greenies love to argue and complain about how
capitalism is taking natural resources and using them all up. A non-renewable
resource is obviously a resource that, once used, vanishes. A lump of coal
that is burnt is no longer a lump of coal and is thus non-renewable. It
doesn’t matter that all the known natural resources that are commonly used by
man have known supplies that will last us for centuries. The fact is that a
resource that is non-renewable must disappear someday — or so they assume.
Now there are many reasons why this is simply not true. But let’s grant the
Greens their premises for a moment. Capitalism is evil because it uses
resources which are destructible.
But that’s not all. Capitalism is also evil because it creates resources that
are not destructible. If you think they get upset when modern society uses a
non-renewable resource just look how they act when renewable resources are
used. Plastic is evil because it doesn’t degenerate. But what are the
choices? Under any economic system some resources have to be used. We can use
resources that are destroyed — but that is evil. Or we can use resources that
are not destroyed — but that's evil as well. As Professor Peter Beckman
noted, the Green has a unique argument: “If it is nonrenewable, don’t use
it, use something indestructible instead, if it is indestructible, don’t use
it either. Nothing is feasible except the two possibilities he has set his
heart on: a return to the caves or doomsday.”
Of course we’ve seen this “damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t” logic
from Greenies before. Take the issue of the rain forest as an example. We
have been warned by Greenies that man’s incursions into the rain forest may
bring us to the brink of disaster. Lurking behind some fern could be a new,
deadly virus unknown to mankind. Contact with said virus could lead the
destruction of humankind since people may not be immune to such diseases. No,
it is far better that man avoid the rain forest altogether, except for those
primitive tribes who have learned how to live in harmony with nature.
But don’t forget there is another reason the rain forest must be saved. After
all who knows what miraculous medical cures could be found in the leaves,
roots, or barks of indigenous plant life? We may find the cure for cancer
there. Well, that is unless a deadly virus kills us all first.
Capitalism Enslaves Women
The Feminist Left, building on old Marxist theories, attacked capitalism
because it enslaved women as breeding machines. It seems the capitalist
bosses needed surplus babies to help keep wages down. After all, the greater
the number of potential “workers” the less they will have to be paid. In
fact classical Marxist theory argued that such workers would be paid only
enough to survive on so as to maximize the profits of the capitalists. So
capitalism forced women into becoming breeding machines.
Now if you read the anti-capitalist ranting of John Gray you find that
capitalism does just the opposite. Instead of forcing women into becoming
subservient breeding machines for their husbands the problem is that
capitalism liberates individuals from families. Instead, people are free to
leave their family behind and strike out on their own. The entire sense of
family and community that the “old” world exhibited is being destroyed and
the culprit is capitalism. The anti-capitalist Marxists said markets created
the nuclear family while the anti-capitalist conservatives are claiming that
markets destroy the nuclear family.
Trade Causes Poverty; No Trade Causes Poverty
If you dare to point out the dismal results of socialism, say in Cuba, the
Left has a response: Cuba is poor because it is denied access to the trading
markets of the West. The US embargo on Cuba has impoverished that island
nation. The problems of poverty in Cuba are not rooted in socialist economic
theories but in trade embargoes. It is a given that Cuba would be much richer
as a nation if it were allowed to participate in market globalization.
But then we should remember that the Third World is poor because it isn’t
embargoed. The problem there is that the West trades with these countries and
such trade is inherently impoverishing. So trade with Third World countries
creates poverty but the lack of trade with Cuba is responsible for poverty.
Take your pick.
Capitalism to the Left is what Satan is to the fundamentalist Christian. It
is the eternal scapegoat and explanation for all that goes wrong in the
world. Whatever social problems exist in the West are, of course, all due to
the evil nature of capitalism. And whatever problems exist in Marxist nations
are the result of the evil nature of capitalism as well. People are poor
—blame capitalism. But blame capitalism if they are “too” rich. The fact is
that in the theology of the Left, either of the Red or Green variety,
capitalism can do no good. And once you abandon reason for theology there is
no rational debate possible.
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