An Essay on Capitalism
An Essay on Capitalism
While we as a nation have been seriously struggling through the economic crisis since the latest crash in 2007 that brought our economy to the brink of disaster there has been, to say the least, a bitter, partisan battle between the left and the right, the Republicans and the Democrats, the Tea Party and the recently named 99 percenters. The division is sharp an reasonably precise to the point that you are on one side or the other unless you can walk a razor blade with bare feet which represents the middle. Each group has taken up its position behind a barrier of rhetoric and dug itself in a trench refusing to move at any cost. There is no one with any degree of strength who can step into the middle and demand that reasoned minds must prevail and be listened to or followed by enough people from the other groups to make any difference whatsoever. Thus it seems that the great experiment that is just a little more than 200 years old is on the brink of failure. What has brought us to this point in time in this situation that the beliefs of men such as Jefferson, Madison, Locke and Voltaire were wrong and that the beliefs of Karl Marx were closer to what the real outcome. Trying to put on my social scientist hat and step back for an objective look at the rise and potential fall of a great nation I thought I would try to narrow down some basic issues regarding the issues of human behavior to look at our failures.
The general cries of the Republicans these days are that the Democrats, and in particular President Obama, are in engaging in class warfare as if this was something new. This is not a new concept, it is only one that has been hidden under the auspices of terms such as “free market” democracy and an “opportunity for every man.” These catch phrases have been the hope of humans for many millennium to occupy the mind of the common man and to ensure the existence of an underclass to sure the rich since the beginning of recorded history.
While we as a nation have been seriously struggling through the economic crisis since the latest crash in 2007 that brought our economy to the brink of disaster there has been, to say the least, a bitter, partisan battle between the left and the right, the Republicans and the Democrats, the Tea Party and the recently named 99 percenters. The division is sharp an reasonably precise to the point that you are on one side or the other unless you can walk a razor blade with bare feet which represents the middle. Each group has taken up its position behind a barrier of rhetoric and dug itself in a trench refusing to move at any cost. There is no one with any degree of strength who can step into the middle and demand that reasoned minds must prevail and be listened to or followed by enough people from the other groups to make any difference whatsoever. Thus it seems that the great experiment that is just a little more than 200 years old is on the brink of failure. What has brought us to this point in time in this situation that the beliefs of men such as Jefferson, Madison, Locke and Voltaire were wrong and that the beliefs of Karl Marx were closer to what the real outcome. Trying to put on my social scientist hat and step back for an objective look at the rise and potential fall of a great nation I thought I would try to narrow down some basic issues regarding the issues of human behavior to look at our failures.
The general cries of the Republicans these days are that the Democrats, and in particular President Obama, are in engaging in class warfare as if this was something new. This is not a new concept, it is only one that has been hidden under the auspices of terms such as “free market” democracy and an “opportunity for every man.” These catch phrases have been the hope of humans for many millennium to occupy the mind of the common man and to ensure the existence of an underclass to sure the rich since the beginning of recorded history.