Communal Capitalism 12 comments

13 Jun 2009 @ 23:10, by Paul Quintanilla Here's an excerpt from one of my novels, In the Land of the Dacks, for you to chaw on, if so inclined. It deals with basic economics and hopefully is thought provoking....... The scene takes place in a penal colony in Dackland where our hero, a young American, skeptically questions his Dack host..... A man nicknamed Fisch because he smells like a fish. There isn't much in the way of hygiene in the Colony. [link] "What is this Communal Capitalism of yours?" I finally asked. "What is this system you're always talking about? I never heard of it before. And what makes it so superior to the American way?" I was already certain this would be something basically theoretical and unworkable. Fundamentally preposterous, in short, and had already begun to condescend to this system which I had never heard of. After all, it seemed limited only to this tiny country of the Dacks, and hadn't made any worldwide inroads. "Very well," Fisch seriously smiled, shifting his physical position. "I will explain it to you. Perhaps I may even convert you? Ha ha. Do you think I can?" His eyes were quite gleeful as he asked this, as if he had read my mind. "Maybe," I politely answered, not believing of course he could. Wondering if my face had given me away? "Professor Noah Strongtree, my mentor at the university, offered the world a route out of the modern economic dilemma and it deserves attention and respect. It is an alternative to the competing systems which dominate the world." "I'm listening." Well into my second rum I could have listened to anything now, even another cockamamie assault on my world. "Go ahead, I'm game," I said. "Please tell me what this economic system is all about." "Look. In your modern America, in your own Capitalist wonderland, your giant corporations constantly portray themselves as great benefactors, as leaders of human progress sensitive to the public good. They promise great wealth and power to anyone who can join them, to those who 'can win the game,' as you put it. Let us go back, then, to the basic roots of your Capitalist superpower. Let us examine the modest origins from which it inexorably expanded and grew. The little stalls and stands in primitive marketplaces where simple tradespersons sold their wares and goods, hoping, some of them, to become rich. This simple desire to engage in trade to benefit oneself is a very fundamental desire, a basic human activity. And an aggressive, enterprising Capitalist can always discover innovative means to better himself. For Capitalism permits the free and unbounded expression of this great acquisitive energy. Do you follow?" "I see what you're saying, sure," I said, sipping from my chilled glass of powerful rum. Yes, there greedy people out there. But not everyone is greedy, I thought. The few don't necessarily ruin it for the many. Could Fisch see this basic logic? "Capitalism, therefore, is the economic system of the lowest common denominator. That is why it has been so successful. Any idiot can be a Capitalist and many Capitalists are idiots. All over the world millions upon millions of eager and ambitious entrepreneurs daily take their chances hoping for success, to eventually become wealthy and powerful. Some claw their way to the top, others fall by the wayside crushed by many overwhelming heartless realities. But there are always new aspirants prepared to take their places. Capitalism has always been open to anyone willing to take a chance, play the game. Capitalism invites innovation and rewards hard work and ruthless competition. It rewards the most cunning, the best players, the most ruthless. Would you not agree?" "Well, I suppose so," I warily said. "With some of what you say at least." I was forced by Fisch's overall direction to be reminded, once again, of the American robber barons, those shady turn-of-the-century figures in their black silk top hats, frock coats and thick brown cigars who rapaciously acquired enormous fortunes. The Goulds, the Fricks, the Harrimans, and so on. Though Fisch's tone and attitude, I thought, was also rather demeaning: insulting all those ordinary hardworking decent people in business attempting to provide some comfort and stability for their families. And I thought there was a somewhat primitive edge to Fisch's words, reflective too, I felt, of his envious thirdworld background. "Yes, Capitalism is the economic system of the lowest common denominator," Fisch thoughtfully continued. "There is no system lower, perhaps, except scavenging, or those basic agricultural and hunting societies where trade doesn't even exist. And the world owes much to the growth of the merchant class. I admit it! For I seek the truth and am only interested in truth. I must allow the chips to fall where they may. And those earliest seminal merchants who stood up against the power of the aristocracy, the king and the church brought many benefits to the world. Including our ideas of modern democracy which elevate the individual and proclaim his basic dignity and worth. Much good came from the nascent middleclass besides the seeds of the current world crisis. The cancer which is spreading everywhere across the Earth. Do you not agree?" I shrugged and noncommittally nodded. A cancer spreading across the Earth? There has always been a malaise, I thought, lurking just beneath the overall surface of things. That, I thought, should be apparent, as well as the inspiration for many religious and philosophical debates. But, frankly, I didn't know one way or another which way the world was actually heading. Or what our future would be. All I knew now is that I had been entirely cut off from nearly all of it. Fisch continued on his line of thought: "All other advanced economic systems have been utopian. They rely on human goodwill and intelligence, a formula guaranteed to fail. That is why Capitalism, as the economic system of the lowest common denominator, has been so successful. There are no natural constraints upon it. It encourages and rewards aggressiveness and fierce competition, what you in America define as rugged individualism, and freedom, true freedom, the freedom, finally, to become rich and powerful. The basis for your white bread Capitalism." Fisch paused, inquisitively eyeing me. Did he wonder if I understood, agreed? If I would interrupt or object? But I remained quiet, listening. Drinking my rum. I was almost accustomed by now to his slights. "On the other hand, Communism requires the state to control all the means of production. This inevitably leads to stagnation, inefficiency, deep corruption. Workers are offered a safe sinecure and fail to produce. Since the benefits of greed are denied they lapse into a cynical indifference. They have no incentive, no future, no true creative horizons. The only way up is through the bureaucracy and this inevitably leads to more incompetence and corruption. For bureaucracies reward naked ambition at the expense of integrity, true ability, and creativity. In fact, creativity is seen as a threat by the incompetents on the way up. Would you not agree?" "I know nothing about civil service." "Yes, Marxism was a brilliant nineteenth century analysis of the predatory and ruthlessly manipulative nature of Capitalism. Its followers, though, corrupted it, and destroyed millions of lives in order to obtain their ideal. But no system which requires millions of lives is worth the expenditure." "Yes," I murmured. You would get no argument out of me over that one, I thought. "Sure, Communism is pretty evil." "So we have had two fundamental economic systems in our modern era, both, in their own ways, based upon exploitation. Democratic Socialism is a humane way out of the dilemma, the two competing systems. It offers freedom and dignity to the individual while providing for the overall needs of society. But a constant tension between man's natural acquisitiveness and society's broader needs thwarts this logical system. Socialism is fragile, for man's selfish greed and desire for power are constantly undermining it. It is another system requiring goodwill and intelligence. That is why the welfare states of Europe, and of the rest of the world, too, may finally loose out to Capitalism, the system of the lowest common denominator, openly accommodating, as it does, a far greater mass of humanity, promoting and unleashing greed. And as we know men are willing to die over that." Fisch paused an instant, staring at me as if to see if I still followed, how I was reacting. If I would begin to argue with him. Go ahead, I thought, I'm listening, I'm listening, and sipped again from my rum. "I see Communal Capitalism, as Professor Noah Strongtree so beautifully, eloquently, described it so long ago within our late lamented academic lecture hall, as a way out of these fundamental dilemmas. It is a system which doesn't impede businessmen and merchants from becoming rich. It encourages trade! And even supports and promotes the entrepreneurial spirit, for free trade is an expression of democracy too. And no one should deny a merchant his innate dignity and worth, his freedom, if you will. No one should attempt to thwart his humanity and basic nature. In our modern era intellectuals and artists have always looked down upon the merchant class, the bourgeoisie. And Socialism, as an economic and social system, also reflects that aristocratic contempt. It rebukes and scorns the vulgar materialism of the middle and upper classes. It rebukes greed and selfishness as if its own moral and intellectual superiority were a self-evident, conclusive argument. As if greed and selfishness alone were proofs why Socialism is superior. But any philosophy which runs contrary to human nature cannot succeed. Man's basic nature must be taken into account and utopian schemes are always bound to fail, no matter how noble and shining their aspirations. And though their utopian nobility may attract numerous dreamers, a majority of the intellectuals and artists, they are sustained only by beautiful ideas, mere ideals, which humanity, in its mass, may even pay lip service to, but will daily ignore in its own strivings to better itself." I nodded my head, silently agreeing. What he said made sense, I thought. What's more, the rum was also swiftly rising now to my head. "But beautiful ideas may eventually come into their own too," Fisch continued. "Listen to me carefully. Yes, there is such a thing as human progress. The earliest democracy, as expounded in Ancient Greece, was thoroughly utopian and idealistic in nature and inevitably failed. But that primitive system's noble sentiments still live on today and actually contained, back then, the seeds for our own advanced forms of democracy, a worldly democracy which recognizes human frailty with its numerous checks and balances. Communal Capitalism, John, is another step on the road of that journey. It merely expands your own Bill of Rights, attempting to finish the job your Founding Fathers, the radicals and revolutionaries of their age who hoped for a fairer and just world, began. By unleashing the truth it first recognizes human nature and then codifies the strict and fair standards of society." "How does this thing stick together," I interrupted. "How is it different from other idealistic systems. I mean, I don't quite see what you're getting at. What would prevent the greediest and most powerful from eventually just taking over?" "A good question. Yes, it too is vulnerable to an even lower common denominator than the acquisitive spirit. To violence and militarism and war. There are always threats to any system. For no one can check humanity in its lowest widespread folly. If Communal Capitalism contains an artificial element which doesn't surrender to the acquisitive spirit it is in demanding that the basic needs of society must be met. These are all brought to the surface. That the law must be obeyed. And that no one may trample on the rights of others. Express your entrepreneurial spirit, we say. Employ all your energies to better yourself! Fine! That is the way you are! We do not want to stand in your way. But you may not enrich yourself at the expense of others. For what Communal Capitalism does is put all the facts on the table, openly speaks truth about the realities, recognizing them, and establishes a system of laws, checks and balances, if you will, which safeguard the overall rights of society. The golden rule of the Communal Capitalist is that an individual may not enrich himself at the expense of the community." But I thought I saw a hole in his argument. "If man is greedy, and always seeking power, then how would your system contain greed and power. How would you prevent this just society from being subverted by aggressive selfish Capitalists?" "With the truth," Fisch said, his face beaming. He appeared now as if he were sharing a great transcendent revelation with me. As if openly airing this philosophy of his made him enormously happy. "With the truth. The power of truth. That is the beauty of the Communal Capitalist system. For it calls a spade a spade. It openly brings out the realities. Euphemisms, regarding social conduct, double-speak, as your great English poet George Orwell so brilliantly put it, would cease to exist. For society would demand its basic rights through the truth. And within that glorious context all social conduct would be judged. Our constitution, building upon your American constitution, the Bill of Rights, would install a system which recognizes predatory and unfair behavior. It would cut through the fog bank of obfuscation and double-speak to pure truth and reality. And upon this sound moral basis would judge any entrepreneur's greed as 'Overreach.' Overreach would become the great crime, the cardinal sin against society. Those judged of Overreach would be severely penalized. For it would be imperative in a Communal Capitalist society to protect everyone's, absolutely everyone's, fundamental rights." "You think truth has that much power?" "Yes. I do. In any modern Capitalist society, any rigid, top down system, or authoritarian state, the truth is always the first casualty, the great enemy of the Overreacher. For truth truly is a cleansing and clarifying fire. Tear down the walls of obfuscation and those numerous self-serving lies which prop up an Overreacher dissolve. For no Overreacher can justify himself unless evil finally becomes a positive moral cause. Yes, Communal Capitalism makes a fundamental correction to that modern liberal elitism which has so disdained the materialism of the bourgeoisie. Rather than fight that materialism it embraces it, accepts it as a natural expression of human nature. But no one may ever Overreach. This most fundamental of ideals still remains. For if a system can not at least depend upon a very minimum of human decency then there is no hope for us." "No hope for us?" "No hope for us."

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