It absolutely boggles my mind how someone who is poor and in need or even middle classed and living week to week, paycheck to paycheck, can say with absolute certainty that Capitalism is a good thing. It is in the very nature of Capitalism to grind people down and turn brother against brother for the trivial concept of material gain. In the Capitalist system we must purchase our basic human needs, and at an increasingly unrealistic rate. With those thoughts in mind how could any rational person reason that Capitalism is not out dated and in need of replacement or at the very least a massive restructuring?
If the United States were to turn to a more Socialist system the powers of Government would return to the people which Democracy was created for. The problem is that most people view Capitalism and Democracy as an inseparable duo when in fact they are polar opposites. Capitalism is the enslavement of the working class by a higher-ranking social elite, for the benefit of the social elite, which is about as far from Democracy as one could get. Socialism on the other hand is the control of production and government by the people, who are on an equal social status level, for the direct benefit of all.
The key factors which hold us to a Capitalist system, I believe, are the fear of a change to an unknown or at least untested (by us) system and the complicated matter of restructuring international trade and foreign policy. The United States has been programmed to believe since it's inception that our current way is the best way to run the government and with this mentality change will not come about easily.
It is obvious to anyone who has looked into these matters that Socialism too is not without it's flaws but then again what system is not? The real question here is whether or not the pro's of a Socialist system out weigh the con's of the Capitalist system. With an intellectual society as advanced as ours it would only be a few years until any problems that arose were overcome.
Would not a system of Government for the people and controlled by the people be ideal, especially since this is what the people of America have stood and died for since the country's inception?
Would not a balancing of the economic status of the people remove much of the corruption we currently face?
Would not the disillusion of the social pecking order bring people to an equal level where they could settle their differences on moral grounds as opposed to setting up artificial "class" barriers, which prevent the overall harmony of the citizenry?
Would not the transition of the American governing system from Capitalism to Socialism remove much dissimulation and social stigma?
For a successful transition like this to work, a complete overhaul of the nations educational institutions would be necessary as the current methods of teaching have a high emphasis on the economics of Capitalism. More importantly the current educational system has a high instance of over-glorifying the modern corporate infrastructure which views the world as a vast market place for unlimited economic gain.
The problem with this mentality is that the desire to create capital becomes an insatiable obsession that turns man into a machine with no compassion for the planet or his fellow compatriots. This corporate mentality is the single biggest problem facing the modern world... So big is this problem that it may become the deciding factor on whether or not the human race survives the next hundred years, in fact this may already be the case!
Globalization and the destruction of the Biosphere are two of many major dilemma’s facing our species at this time. Neither of these problems is or was inevitable as we currently have, and have had, the knowledge and the technology to avoid these issues entirely, we have just chosen thus far not to utilize these tactics. The main question in my mind is whether or not we have time to change for the better or have we already started the count down to the worldwide extinction of our species?
Regardless of the answer to the above question, which we honestly cannot know, now is the time for action and now is the time to take whatever steps necessary to ensure our survival. If the question was ever asked "What have you done to justify your existence on this planet?" What would be your answer? If the posing of this question in any way causes you to think critically, get enraged, or motivates you in any other way to speak your mind then I have done my part and now it is up to you to decide what your course of action from here on out will be.