I am new to The Debating Room. Fate had it that I watched the "60 Minutes" on television and discovered æmcspotlightÆ webpage. This opened the door to the debating room and there I became acquainted with Simon Kongshoj, Arnaud, Zeus, Gerard, the Everett Citizen, Cara Russel, etc., all of them flogging the same dead horse of Capitalism and Alternatives, and going in circles between different -isms. I hope hereby to inject into this discussion a view based on lateral thinking and thus put to solution to our future on a different track.What are the alternatives to capitalism? To answer this question we have to grasp the basic principle which guides all the present social systems in the world, including capitalism. It is not "whatÆs in it for me, or whatÆs in it for us?" mentality, not the ownership of the means of production, not the accumulation of the capital in the hands of the few, not meritocracy, strong individualism, democracy, state-owned versus private enterprises, or idealism as defined by this or that politician or prophet.
What is common to all the social systems in the world is the lack of freedom NOT TO WORK. Without this freedom, capitalism, socialism, fascism, parliamentary democracy, etc. are nothing but slaveries. There is, therefore, no meaningful choice between them.
All freedoms, to be meaningful, must contain within them their opposites. Freedom of speech must contain in itself the freedom not to speak (i.e. to remain silent); freedom of association embraces the freedom not to associate (i.e. to remain a recluse, or have no political party affiliation); freedom of religious beliefs contains in it the freedom to have no beliefs whatsoever; freedom of movement permits one to become a stick in the mud, or go into a catatonic stupor. Only the freedom to work does not address its opposite.
Freedom to work, then, is not a freedom, but a compulsion which permits a person only the choice between the available jobs. It is just as hypocritical as the freedom which prisoners enjoy by being able to choose between different penal institutions. In fact it is an oxymoron expressing the freedom enjoyed by slaves.
To say that one is not free not to work, translates into a statement that "one has to work." This statement is meaningless unless, in reality it means that "one can be made to work." To do this one has to resort to violence. Thus all political systems practice violence against the individual, and they differ from each other only in three inessential aspects:
1. Who does the forcing? A dictator? A politburo? A Duma? Democratically elected government? The law? An employer? A monarch? Underground Mafia? Church organizations?
2. The means used in forcing one to work, and how much violence is to be permitted? Can one be starved into employment? Horsewhipped? Incarcerated? Sent to Siberian gulags? Locked up in a mental hospital? Put into a socially engineered Skinner Box in which work is rewarded by a food-pallet, and idleness punished by an electric shock?
3. What kind of work is one forced to do? Kill and torture others? Pollute environment? Destroy the ecosystem? Produce means of mass destruction? Participate in wars of conquest or liberation? Put oneself into the harmÆs way? Sacrifice oneÆs family? Sell sexual favours? Become a cogwheel in an economic machinery?
This freedom not to work is inseparable from the freedom not to be what commercialism, ruling classes, society, church, etc. want one to be. Without this freedom, Simon KongshojÆs wistful wish, expressed in his posting "Capitalism and its negation" could never be fulfilled. For how can "every person have the freedom and sovereignty to do (or not to do) what is necessary both for individual and collectiveÆ and how can æ an individual have the freedom to define his or her own personality without the capitalÆs subversive influenceÆ if the society casts him into a mold of a robot?
To change all political systems in the world food must be constitutionally guaranteed to everyone, without preconditions. Withholding food should be viewed as being tantamount to biological weapon of mass destruction, and should be classed as a crime against humanity, whether used within a country or internationally, and whether it used overtly or covertly.
I invite everyone interested to view my webpage entitled "The Universal Prepaid Food Staples Plan": http://www.oxford.net/~walterp/ and enter into a meaningful discussion with me.
