Do you really want a socialist Government?
Capitalism, Karl Marx, in his historical materialism theory, believed that material resources were the primary source for control. Basically, he who controls the resources controls the people. Is this source of control correct? A look at our current government would stand to show we are in a conflict. We currently have a division in our society for a changing to a socialist state instead of the capitalist state our government currently says it is. We have had a movement lately where the government is taking more control and pulling more power away from the people. Is governmental control a good thing? Should life contain an inherent tax that pays for those that do not want to do the work needed to get ahead in this life? or is it a view that most people just need taken care of? If you are able to provide for many should you do it or is life truly transactional? Are all things done as a “give and take”? This transactional world design segregates people and creates a pursuit of the best possible answer for the seeker. An inherent question of “what do I get out this” takes center stage. In all, a personal pursuit for the best possible outcome approach creates a self-centered world and we end up in a thought process that say’s “what about me”. Well, what about you? Does the world revolve around you? No, you are a piece of this world but you are not the center of it. We need to have a mindset that puts other people first and asks them what they want and they need. We currently live in a very selfish world and are asked over and over again to take care of us. Get what you need first. Take care of the family first. Should we be taking care of us first or should we be taking care of everyone else and ignoring us? The obvious answer is take care of your needs first. Then, take care of others. This makes sense. It is a logical conclusion to come to after all. How can you help others if you are not taken care of yourself? What if I told you it is not your job to take care of yourself? What if your job is to take care of others and give everything away? If everyone did this, you would be taken care of? If everything we had was given to other people, we would have a very different look on life. Would there be a suicide issue in the world? Would we have a poverty issue? If all monies were spread out evenly this could take care of this too. This sounds like Karl Marx theory of Communism. Communism is social theory where everyone owns everything. A society where there is not personal ownership of anything. We saw a poorly scripted version of this in the former U.S.S.R. (Russia) and it was hugely abused. The common people were oppressed to having almost nothing and the high-ranking powers in the government had access to wealth and resources beyond thought. While Karl Marx perceived that Communism would disperse the need of government, actually the people in government took advantage and control of the common people creating a very unhappy and poor class of people. When you look at other countries who shared this social belief there were similar results. Cuba, for example, is a country that shares this same poverty of the people and a huge amount of governmental control. An interesting fact, the leaders of both of these nations, Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro, are known for being two of the world’s most notorious killers. Do we really want to move towards this social government control?
This brings us to the economic system we have in the United States today. A system Known as Capitalism. A system that is defined (according to Merriam-Webster) as, “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market”. Basically, we the people have control of the businesses. This is certainly favorable for anyone who wants to be able to change his or her situation. If government has control over the businesses then they control who gets what job and how much that job pays and if everyone is equal, then the salaries of all people are going to be oppressed, paid just enough to survive and nothing more. This is not a favorable system to any of the common people and we need to turn our hearts to an economy ruled by the people, for the people, and made about the people. This brings me to a TED talks speech I watched from the president of Nasdaq, Adena Friedman, titled the future of capitalism. She spoke about ways to transfer the consumer market to better and greater things using an example of buying insurance to cover a dangerous event. The premise was an idea of how to shift some of the transactional control of a purchase to the purchaser, rather than the seller. What she is proposing is an open market on virtually all transactions. This means every purchase would be an auction, but instead of you, the purchaser, bidding to get the unit you want, companies would be bidding to get your business. you are the important one being bid over. That is a very different idea. A changing of the game if you will. Instead of the companies dictating the cost and the purchaser paying for it. The system is reversed. The products are available and the companies want you to buy it. Seeing how this would unfold in the world we live in would be interesting to see. Our society needs a change. There is no doubt about that. We do not need to change things to a socialist way of government where the government dictates what you have and what is important. This is a different alternative that still keeps the control and power in the hands of the people and accomplishes the change we need to have in the world.
Karl Marx proposed the idea that conflict is the driving force in society and these conflicts are how society evolves over time. Right now, the United States is in one of these polarized conflicting states right now. We have a huge disparity where the rich get richer and the poor are getting poorer. We need to change the way the system is applied in order to change the results of the system.
As a Christian, we run all things through the filter of the Bible. Jesus addresses many of these issues in his teachings. What does Jesus say about our political and social systems and what it should it look like? You can read Mark chapter 10 and find where He encountered a rich man who asked him a question, “What can I do to inherit Eternal Life” Jesus, told him to follow the commandments, the man answered him and told Jesus he had done all these things. Jesus told him to give up his earthly wealth, at this the man was saddened, Jesus said to his disciples, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy man to enter heaven”. Tie this together with Luke chapter twelve where Jesus tells a parable about a man who had a very good harvest one year, the man decided to build bigger barns and keep everything. Then, he could live life easy and not worry about it. This man was told, that his life would end, then what would he do with the excess he stored up. One large question that has been raised from this political and social conflict has been, is it the job of the rich to take care of the poor? According to Jesus, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48, NIV) yes, if you have much you are to give out much. We have a society that is pushing for someone else to take care of them. There is a huge disparity between the super rich and the poor. At the beginning of that section of the bible in Luke chapter 12, someone made a statement to Jesus. They told him to have their brother to separate their inheritance with him. Jesus answered saying, “am I a judge between you?”, God, the Lord Jesus, has deemed that he is not the one to split inheritance between siblings. Is it the Job of the rich to take care of the poor? we are to give but it is to be done freely and without greed. We are to take care of our brothers and sisters fully but willingly. This is best done through a capitalist system where the people have control of the financial system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wslCc0Di978
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsRSL3duSko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR3igiwaeyc
https://www.ted.com/talks/adena_friedman_what_s_the_future_of_capitalism#t-626497
