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I had an exchange with a caller to my Politics Done Right Radio show that I found to be very enlightening. It was an interesting weaving of democracy, capitalism, inequality, and caring for our fellow citizens. It is worth listening to and sharing.
Capitalism is not Free Enterprise
A caller to Politics Done Right on Pacifica Network’s KPFT 90.1 FM Houston discussed capitalism as well as the restriction of democracy to maintain inequality.
“Nobody talks enough about the fact that the American system is sort of designed to be in favor of the few, of the rich,” the caller said. “When our founding fathers established the system, they looked at Greece, and they said let’s see how Greece decided to set up their democracy. They decided that when equality comes about that, they would reduce inequality. And Americans decided that when equality comes about they would reduce democracy so that the poor cannot come up to the rich with pitchforks.”
That was a prescient observation now that voter suppression is in vogue in many states. In fact, Republicans have introduced bills in 18 states to curb protests. I mentioned to the caller that billionaire Nick Hanauer spoke about the masses coming for the wealthy class with pitchforks in a well-received TED Talk that echoed her statement.
Our engineer Shannon McKirchy chimed in saying that America believes in individualism that does not take into account all of the people who allowed them their level of individualism. In other words, we are all standing on the deeds of others.
The caller chimed back in describing what society should be.
“We have to be more involved in out communities,” the caller said. “We have to want what is best for our neighbors. … We have to be selfless. And we have to rejoin our communities. We have to know what is going on in our communities first. — Who is sick., who needs assistance, who needs help. — And we have to help our neighbors and our friends. We have to be aware of what is going on in our communities before we can tackle these big problems. Sitting at home and doing hours of Netflix isn’t going to help anybody. But in the sixties when Americans were at their best, what did the American system decide to do? Throw at us shopping and entertainment so that we can go back to sleep.”
I pointed out that what she was describing is known as Bread and Circus. The powers keep the masses fed with cheap food and keep them entertained. It has a tendency of suppressing dissent as most people are sufficiently satisfied. This is the state America is in and it is something activists must break through.
Near the end of the segment, I told the caller I needed to push back on something she said.
“You said capitalism is probably the best system and there is something that I think people need to understand. Capitalism is not free enterprise,” I told the caller. “What we do here is we obfuscate things. We try to tell people that capitalism is free enterprise plus democracy. China is one of the largest and most prosperous capitalist countries in the world. Do you want the Chinese Constitution? So let’s be frank here. Capitalism, as implemented in the United States, is not the best system. Do you want a system? You start with free enterprise. A free enterprise system says, ‘I have my own company, and other people have their own companies.’ That’s free enterprise. Capitalism is a gross device of greed by having people partake of other people’s intellect and labor in the form of stocks — capital — to steal your worth. People have to understand what these things really are.”
The caller interjected, mentioning Robert Reich’s book “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few” to add to my critique on our form of capitalism.
“But here’s the thing with Robert Reich’s book,” I told the caller. “I read it. Here’s the thing with Robert Reich. All these people have fundamentally bought into having to use the word capitalism. What he’s promoting is not capitalism. He’s promoting free enterprise. But because he’s an American economist, he cannot quite say that. The idea is, free enterprise with a good device of social justice and a social safety net is what makes the perfect society. Yes, we are not there. Yes, we’re
not getting there yet. But we will.”
Thank you for allowing us to expand the dialogue.
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