disclaimer: this is just a rant, nothing personal. I may not even agree with half of what I say
you people have problems. I AM a capitalist. (and proud of it)
Ok fair enough, what are our problems?
socialism has one major fault that stands in the way of it being better then capitalism, and one fault only. This fault is that humans are, only human
Humans have forgotten their roots. They are social animals after all, and have a natural urge to help each other. We need a society that encourages this instead of a dog-eat-dog jungle.
communism is good in theory, but humans need a leader, and eventually, that leader will crave absolute power of his country (it is possible to have a leader that will generally want to help people and have everything equal, but this will not last long)
Humans don't need a leader, what they need is leadership, freethought and the ability to govern themselves. We should never have one leader to "lead" us. That is a monarchy.
It is not inevitable that people have to be sheep. Most people simply have been raised from an early age to accept whatever crap is shoved down their throat. (We have organized religion partly to blaim for this)
in socialism, there is no incentive for working hard, because you will get nothing out of it. in capitalism, however, if you work hard, you will probibly do well (not in all cases, i know)
You're thinking like a capitalist. Sure, "profit" may be a reason for working for something in its own narrow terms, but when people start working only for profit it creates a kind of intangible ethical pollution that encourages selfishness and a generally amoral attitude towards your fellow human being. Money is not the only reward for work, anyway. People should work for something because it is worth working for, or because it serves society in some way. The idea of working purely for the advancement of society, and also one's own personal enjoyment, is the most noble reason to work at anything in my opinion. Think about this situation to help you visualize the difference in motivation for working in capitalism and socialism:
There is an old lady who is having trouble crossing a busy street.
The capitalist helps her because he is expecting to be rewarded by her with money.
The socialist helps her because he's a kind person who enjoys helping his fellow human for its own sake.
Helping people is its own reward. Doesn't it feel good to help people? If everyone helped each other a little more without thought of "profit" or a cash reward our society would be for the better.
I also find the comment about people usually being rewarded properly for their work in capitalism kind of funny. In my country (the US) we have teachers that aren't being paid shit and yet Michael Jackson has more fucking moulla than 500 teachers ever will. In this country, crime and inheritance are the preferred ways of making money, and "work" is something to be done by, well, the working class. I doubt that the fat cats running Enron did very much work besides cooking the books and touring multimillion dollar houses they planned on buying with their ill-gotten gains. Selling proprietary software is also popular (think Bill Gates, the richest man in the world)
humans are not logical, so a logical form of government simply can not work.
That is what capitalists have been saying for years: "people are too stupid and selfish for socialism to work!"
People are not naturally like this. Our society has made them this way.
I for one have greater faith in humanity.
You may say that I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
Someday I hope you'll join us,
and the world will live as one.
- from "Imagine", by John Lennon
[ March 13, 2003: Message edited by: Linux User #5225982375 ]
