At the core (cont'd)

I've taken the liberty to edit the prior post slightly to clarify some concepts. This post, then, builds about that.

If democracy and capitalism are not tightly related, and if in the thinking of our nation, capitalism seems to be in ascendancy, but democracy seems only to be an adjunct (and a feeble one at that); we have to question how has democracy come to have such a minor role and why would we sacrifice it at the alter of "economic freedom."

Several pieces of this puzzle seem clear to me, and they form the beginnings of a fabric of political thinking which we see so commonly today.

The challenge of any government, but perhaps more so in a democracy, is that choosing solutions to the issues of the day is a difficult process. The more people who feel they are disenfranchised by political process, the more force government must use to maintain its power and status. Naturally, decision making and maintaining the authority of government becomes more difficult in times of dwindling resources. The resources include items of value (food, gold, tools, land, etc) but also commonly held beliefs (including symbols, knowledge and faith). When resources shift from the middle and lower classes to the upper classes, it takes no faith to understand that this shift erodes the resources by which government maintains its power and legitimacy.

Ironically, some political leaders gain in power by ensuring that resources are taken away from the masses. Sharon took power in Israel by insulting and threatening the Palestinians who intern lessened the sense of personal security felt by individual Israelis. By weakening Israel, Sharon justified his hawkish approach to the Palestinians just as a peaceful settlement was close to a possibility. It appears now that the majority of Israel's no long agree with this policy, and many wish that Palestinian lands weren't "settled" after the '67 war. But, we are still far from reaching the peace that could and should be in the middle east.

Closer at home, the combined efforts of the business community and the religious right has worked to destroy American's confidence in facts and science. Global warming is not a liberal conspiracy. It's not the work of a few fringe scientists. It is a reality and one with dire consequences that we need to face as a nation. But, the business community has worked hard to debunk science and facts whenever they are inconvenient to profit. There is no question that curtailing pollution has at least short term negative consequences on profits. Who, however, would consider this a worse solution than possibly eradicating the human race?

Very often the religious right has joined in these attacks. Recently some of the wingnut leadership has come out against accepting global warming as a reality or an issue. What's in it for them? We may never know. But one thing is clear. To the degree that science is undermined, faith becomes reinforced. And faith is the key to the control these leaders hold over their people. Make no mistake, power and money are key drivers for these leaders. If you doubt it, check out their life styles.

Democracy, to be successful, seems to require a variety of checks and balances. Power corrupts, whether its the economic power of corporations, the power of the military might, or power in government. Human (or perhaps better said: animal) nature has each of us protect our own interests against that of our fellows - very few among us can regularly claim to do otherwise. The distribution of power among us, especially related to organized human endeavors means that power will always be at risk of being mis-used. Positioning counterbalancing powers as a protection against corruption is the key that can allow a democracy to exist. Through all of this, we know that no democracy will be perfect. But we also know that without democracy, power tends to quickly filter up into the hands of a few who do not treat the rest of us very well. So, for all its warts, its sometimes economic inefficiencies, the sometimes impossible demands placed on it, and the weakness of human leadership, democracy remains the most likely social/economic organization to promote fairness to all people.

And here lies one of the fallacies promoted by capitalists and free-marketeers. Remember, capitalism is anti-free market (except for labor), and free-markets marginalize capitalists. So, these two concepts that hold each other dear are very different from one another.

The capitalist argues that markets are free and that the "silent hand" allocates resources and rewards without bias. As such, the argument is that the free market leads to fair results for all. The corollary to this is that the rich of the world deserve their riches, and the poor of the world deserve their misery.

This, of course, is a lie; but to understand it requires that we peel back the layers of its logical onion. First, markets generally aren't free, so one can't argue that resources are allocated without bias. Second, it can easily be established that rewards do not accrue in some algebraic manner from combination of ones intelligence, cunning, education, effort, and risk. In fact, we find that CEO income has no relationship to company performance, and a plausible study would likely find that companies' performances have no relationship to CEO actions. Stupid people have become rich. So have lazy people. Hardworking intelligent people have gone bankrupt. Taking a risk implies that postitive outcomes are unlikely. So, how could an individual constantly take risks and constantly achieve positive outcomes? The fact that their outcomes tended to be positive establishes that somehow, this individual, engage in a process without risk, or that they were just a statistical fluke. Who can claim that success being a statistical fluke is a harbinger of a just and fair system?

Again, studies show that successful people credit themselves too much for their fortune, and unsuccessful people credit themselves too little for their fortune. Why is this? Probably its a fundmental mechasim of self protection. Must of us aren't calibrated to hurt our fellow man and feel good about it - that is we aren't good at being evil and accepting that we are so.. Most of us aren't calibrated to believe that we're bad/useless/incompetent. Considering ourselves to be evil, or considering ourselves to be bad/useless/incompetent, seem likely to be personality traits which will make us less successful at surviving and procreating. Our survival and success is based on feeling good about ourselves. And so, eons of natural selection have given us the ability to blame problems on others while taking credit for success.

Well, it's late again. More soon.