©Copyright 1998 - 2004 Advanced Research
Consultants, Inc.
a 6
w a y
T
U G O F
W A R
Advanced
Research Consultants, Inc
Dedicated to the struggling new democracies and the
hope for a better balance, in this tug-of-war, in favor of your choice: Freedom and/or
Democracy and/or Capitalism.
How is it possible that these noble concepts are
incompatible? Does Capitalism try to destroy
Democracy and Freedom? Does Democracy really
try to destroy Capitalism and Freedom? Does
Freedom actually conflict with Capitalism and Democracy?
Consider the following 6 interactions:
1.
Capitalism
versus Democracy.
Capitalism
is not democratic.
Economic empires are usually run by virtual, and sometimes actual, dictators.
The rich and powerful are not elected to influence or control the lives and
livelihood of thousands or millions of people.
Never-the-less they do exercise such power.
The rich and powerful too often use their power to influence the democratic
government to assist in making them richer.
To the extent they succeed, Capitalism subverts Democracy.
The result of this subversion is called Plutocracy: Government by the rich and powerful.
Among the rich and powerful dictators owning huge economic empires, there are those to whom the laws
of the democratic state are minor obstacles, to the acquisition of more money and power,
to be circumvented and eventually removed. These
Power Mad Nuts (POWER
DOES CORRUPT) are extremely dangerous to any democracy. They sincerely believe that their money and power
gives them the right to brush aside the laws and other efforts of any democracy to control
the efforts of these Power Mad Nuts to own and control everything in the country and the
world.
2.
Capitalism
versus Freedom. Capitalism thrived on slavery in
the past. It thrives on cheap labor (slave
wages) in many parts of the world today. When
the pool of unemployed becomes too small, higher wages must be paid to laborers. The rich and powerful seldom suffer loss of income
because of increased wages paid to laborers. Prices
are raised in The Company Store to compensate.
(click here for Company
Store details 2.1 thru 2.4)
Modern Capitalism
requires consumers (suckers?) as well as workers (slaves?). Another infringement on
Freedom comes with the BRAINWASHING (advertising, programming, etc.). Everyone must
have the latest style, gadget, gimmick, thought, etc., etc. To accomplish this The
Media (a few major corporations) is used to sell us all this stuff we really don't need
and keep us wanting more. Unfortunately it doesn't stop there. The
"Free" Press is not free. IT IS BIG BUSINESS. The Media is the
corporate propaganda machine (The Voice of Capitalism) which dictates lifestyles (soap
operas, sit-comes, etc.), provides our daily "Scare" (news, horror, crime shows)
to which it has addicted us, and frames (presents, moderates, slants) all political
debates. Corporate advertising pays billions of dollars annually to The Media to
gain and maintain control of the minds of hundreds of millions of people. And don't
think for one moment that "subliminal" (commands flashed --- too quick to
see --- directly into the mind) is not being used just because it is illegal.
3.
Democracy
versus Capitalism. The
modern democratic concept involves government of the people, by the people
and for the people. The people have an
aversion to the totalitarianism inherent in Capitalism.
The very idea of some non-elected individual(s), who own or control a private
company, having control over the future well being of the people, is abhorrent. Some present battle lines are insider trading,
pollution and toxic waste clean-up. The
on-going battle is to maintain competition by expanding antitrust and other laws against
monopolies (to prevent The Company Store scenario).
Another battleground is government regulation of companies exploiting, or
cornering, natural resources, and companies producing food or drugs, etc.
3.1.
There
is a constant tug of war between Democracy and Capitalism along these lines. This in turn causes Capitalism to try to control
the democratically elected government as mentioned in
1. above through lobbying, golden parachutes, smear campaigns
(negative PR) via the "free" press, espionage, etc. on the legal (?) side; Bribery, blackmail, and even assassination on the
illegal side. Remember the Power Mad Nuts
care nothing about laws.
4.
Democracy versus Freedom. Democracies in the past have passed laws legalizing and supporting slavery
in one form or another. The slaves, of course, are not permitted to participate in
the democratic processes that are enslaving them. Religious groups have often passed
laws that directly infringe on religious or any other freedom. ()
The majority
groups in a democracy often legislate other groups' freedoms,
interests, ideals, beliefs, morals, cultures, religious practices, etc., out of existence.
Recently (post 9/11/01) the U.S. Congress and Senate voted our constitutionally guaranteed
freedoms and rights out of existence under the "Patriot Act". This
authorized the building of George Orwell's "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING"
machines. AND the U.S. has now become a country where people disappear (government
detention without charges or access to legal or family assistance). We are well on
our way to making the old USSR look like a free state compared to US.
5.
Freedom
versus Capitalism. Freedom
from economic slavery is second only to freedom from physical slavery as an ideal worthy
of lifelong effort. There are many who
believe there is no difference between the two. Freedom
from economic slavery is very hard to attain under capitalism. The workers of capitalism cannot survive for long
without their jobs. This is maintained since
capitalism requires workers (both as laborers and consumers) to produce profits. Of course the workers wouldn't work if they could
survive in comfort without their jobs. This
is why “welfare” cannot be tolerated.
The workers, therefore, are economic captives (The Company Store scenario). Hence the term economic slavery. Without money from a job, one cannot pay rent or
buy food and thus slides down a greased pole to the bottom. Fear of this fate, that many consider worse than
death, is what keeps the workers working, putting up with abuse and "sucking up"
under Capitalism: The Economic Whip.
5.1.
Freedom from economic slavery would of course
destroy capitalism. No-body would be required to work. Who is going to put up with taking orders from a
petty and/or power drunk and/or sadistic and/or stupid boss if they didn't have to? Who is going to apply toilette paper to the
bottoms of hospital patients and quadriplegics, work in mental or penal institutions, pick
up garbage, pick fruit and vegetables, etc.? It is fear of losing their job and sliding
down that slippery pole to the bottom. e.g.
homelessness, ghetto living (short and crime / punishment filled), poverty, etc. All of these also represent varying degrees of
loss of civil and legal rights, depending on your race / ethnic group / religion / skin
color / immigrant status / the state, city or town where you live, etc. Your medical situation similarly suffers.
5.2.
Remember Capitalism
flourishes when slaves are used. What do they do with slaves who won't work?
Historically they beat or punished the slaves. They made "object lessons"
out of those beatings or punishments. This kept the other slaves working as the boss
tells them, for fear of the same or worse fate. In modern times the
"carrot" is larger and the "stick" is no longer the lash. But
stop "kissing the boss' butt" and/or working. Unless you have friends or
family or investments or something to keep you "afloat", you will experience the
pain of the economic whip. The painful situations mentioned in the paragraph above
only allude to the real mental and emotional pain which quickly becomes psychologically
destructive.
6.
Freedom
versus Democracy. In the name of freedom we very democratically pass
laws against everything that can potentially harm us.
One day, therefore, in
the name of freedom, we will have none.
6.1.
Freedom to gamble, see pornography, be educated, be free of religions and their laws,
drink, smoke, have dope, etc. We want to
claim more rights including the right to commit suicide by any of the methods above. NOTE: Anything a Democracy outlaws that a large
number of people want (or can be suckered into wanting as with narcotics), an
international crime syndicate will arise or expand to supply the contraband. The illegal narcotics business in the U.S. was
estimated (in 1997) at $15 billion annually and growing fast. Present estimate is over $150 billion per year and growing faster. One
would think the lessons of Prohibition (alcohol outlawed) would have caused us to legalize
and control this other stuff like we do alcohol. The
cost, to us taxpayers, is a continuously increasing hundreds of billions of dollars pored
into the bottomless pit of the cycle of investigation, interdiction, police state in the
ghettos, arrest, prosecution and incarceration. i.e.
Every time we catch somebody, there are 50 people fighting in line to take over for the
one we just caught and make the “big bucks”, if only for a little while. More-over they know how the last one got caught,
therefore it will cost us more to catch and prosecute the inevitable replacements.
6.2. Prisons are now a growth industry. Inmates are now the slaves who produce products for private
corporations!!?? Look at the additional incentive (beyond giant golden
parachutes/bribes, and campaign contributions) to keep narcotics flowing, to keep the
economic oppression on the ghettos, thereby keeping the new slave trade (prison labor)
expanding. None of these "criminals" (slaves) are rehabilitated or
assisted in returning to society, thus insuring a high percentage of released slaves
returning. Now this failure of democracy, to permit people to commit suicide (in the
manner of their choosing: dope, liquor, etc.), has led to capitalism
making money off slaves again
while others are getting rich from the $150 billion a year illegal
narcotics industry (still another kind of slave: the addict).
6.2.1.
People are being
exploited on both sides (legal and illegal) of the narcotics industry. Legal capitalist industries (police, equipment,
prisons, construction, correction officers, lawyers, etc.) exist and grow because the
illegal capitalist industries (growth/importation and sale of illegal narcotics: marijuana
and cocaine mostly) exist and grow. Our
efforts to stop it merely increases the street price and thereby attracting more and
smarter entrepreneurs at all levels. This in
turn increases the amount of money available to bribe people at all levels thus creating,
maintaining and exploiting holes in our expensive policing efforts. A $150 billion a year industry, even if it is
illegal, has a lot of clout. It can afford a
few billion a year in appeasement (letting us catch a few), misdirection and
direct/indirect bribes.
©Copyright 1998 - 2004 Advanced Research
Consultants, Inc.