Society and Capitalism

Some say the government permits the market to function in safety and thus is superior to it. Au Contraire! It is the market that permits government! What government could exist without the wealth necessary to run it? Government can appropriate…can confiscate wealth, but it can NEVER produce it. Government is an off-shoot of the market - an unintended consequence of the market’s very success. Show me where government ever sprang up in the absence of wealth…in the absence of a market? Civilization, Society…whatever you wish to call it – it IS the market in action. I can scrape by with subsistence farming, but if I combine with that guy over there, then my crop may good or bad…his crop may be good or bad, but together, we’ll make it. It is the division of labor. It is the market. You cannot divide or separate them: “Society” and “The Market” are one in the same. Society “happened” because people came together willingly to advance their own best interests. Historically, when those interests were no longer served, people left – and/or the society collapsed. Today, we are told that a select few will decide for us what our best interests are – and we will be coerced into cooperating to advance these pre-selected “best interests”. By no known definition can this be called “progress”. Rather, this represents the breaking of the most fundamental bonds underlying the very notion of “Society”. Society is a voluntary organization. Compulsion, to remain and participate, is a clear indicator of imminent societal collapse. When you are told that what you consider your best interests are not what you will be permitted to pursue, what stake have you in "Society"? When I want to make money, but the government takes 50+% of it, what incentive have I to try? Especially when I know that by not doing anything, I will still be taken care of. Those who continue to try - are hounded to produce more - so that it can be given to those who don't try. It is a vicious cycle that can only produce privation. History is very clear about this. The only way to prevent the disintegration of such a society, is to indoctrinate and continually re-educate members of the society to believe that those things that they have - until now - considered to be in their best interests are, in fact, not in their best interests and are indeed immoral - if not yet illegal. But even this cannot, for any appreciable length of time, prolong the life of a society whose members no longer believe it is in their best interests to remain a part of it.

Words...and their meanings

As with "Liberal", the word "Conservative" has changed meanings over the years. When I think of a "Conservative", I think of someone who, while he may not like it, does not believe that abortion should be banned by the government. Today, however, many people who consider themselves "Conservative" would have no problem employing the full weight and power of the federal government to criminalize the procedure except in certain very limited circumstances. Also, some "Conservative" people I know are all for corporate and farm subsidies - because American farms and businesses must be protected. Finally, many people who call themselves "Conservative" believe that the U.S. has a sacred duty to protect, defend and even spread Western democratic ideals - if for no other reason than to protect our foreign markets. Still others would, while giving lip-service to our “immigrant heritage” gladly prohibit ANY new immigration through our southern border. I have never seen these things as "Conservative". Rather, I believe they are a corruption of the ideals with and upon which this republic was founded. To be "Conservative" is…to conserve; it is to save, preserve, to value highly and continually use that which worked previously while being open to positive change - progress - as it comes. Many, who today call themselves "Conservative", are either reactionary, looking to hold on to what they’ve got today - or worse: simply the mirror image of the socialists they so fear.

If our safety is at risk as the result of our dependence on foreign oil, then we must save and protect ourselves - by renouncing Arab oil, drilling at home and bringing along new technologies as fast as practicable. If our health is threatened by pollution, then we ought to “conserve” clean water, air and land. A balance can be struck. If taxes are necessary (at the state level) to conserve the environment, then so be it. For every one who leaves a state for taxes, another will come for the environment. A “Conservative” is not going to look the other way while a business wantonly pollutes or permits a dangerous workplace. No, rather he is going to use other prods besides the sledgehammer of “governmental regulation” to bring businesses into line. A “Conservative” doesn’t want to abolish workers’ unions, only prevent them from perpetrating the same abuses they were called into being to prevent.

Those who call for the abolition of the Social Security System and the Department of Welfare without explaining what is to take their places, are not “Conservative”, they are Social Darwinists – and idiots. A true “Conservative” believes in neighborhoods, communities and community-based solutions for the problems our society faces. A true “Conservative” understands that Laissez-Faire capitalism doesn’t work any better than Marxism. He looks to conserve what was good and right about the Liberties and responsibilities which our grand- and great-grand-parents enjoyed, while filling in the economic holes through which many fell in the days before we understood that we – as a nation - are our brother’s keeper.

The New Deal and The Great Society were well intentioned, but they pompously replaced “community” with “government” and vacuously promised to end poverty and inequality. Their legacy of dependence and irresponsibility has been one giant unintended consequence. But, with that said, a “Conservative” understands that the government has its place – and ought, sometimes…temporarily, to expand that place as necessary…while always remembering that it is the market that creates wealth, the government creates nothing.