Keep Your Enemies Closer

I've been a member of a union for almost thirty years now and I still have a problem understanding why so many Brothers and Sisters stand behind the capitalist way of life. I'm talking a spectrum of support ranging from the lowest paid grunts all the way up to the overpaid officials. Maybe it's my up-bringing or maybe I'm just plain old ignorant but for the life of me, I just can't grasp how organizations built on the premise of, "An injury to one is an injury to all.", can turn into the same identical structure which it was meant to dismantle! A structure which places self gains above humanity. I've read in numerous polls and looked at many graphs which place union members in the republican's camp at somewhere around 40%. Yeah, I know, it's their right and they're free to choose, but I just don't understand it do to the fact of the conflict of interest and different sets of ideals between capitalism and labor. So I decided to just look around the web to see what I could see!

There's an old adage, from the Godfather I believe, which says, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer". So in the spirit of things, I chose to cruise around some of the pro-capitalist sites which proliferate the web. I did a Google on the word "capitalism" and went to the top of the list. The first site was capitalism.org, and I read this from the quote at the top of the main page:

The moral justification for capitalism lies in the fact that it is the only system consonant with man's rational nature, that it protects man's survival qua man, and that it's ruling principle is: justice.

So according to this premise, if one believes in the capitalistic system, they must have a logical and sound mind which is adept at survial and accomplishes this by utilizing the principle of justice? Kind of disconcerting to think I might be of unsound mind and irrational! I guess justice is something like religion. I can do something religiously whether it is a good thing or a bad thing as long as I do it with extreme conscientiousness. I guess the capitalist does things judicially from a divine judgment? Note to myself: Find out which dictionary these capitalists use as I can't seem to corroborate their meaning of the word justice!

Well, I then went to capitalist.org's labor page and read through their FAQs concerning labor and minimum wage. Here is what I read on that page:

That a businessmen pays a worker less wages than the worker feels he deserves is not exploitation, as the worker is free to leave his job and look elsewhere for a higher paying one, if he thinks that someone can give him a better job for a better wage.

Well, I had to stop a while after that one, as tears began rolling down my cheeks from the laughter and the coughing began from the years of abusing my lungs with those damn cancer sticks. I haven't had that good a laugh since GW choked on a pretzel.

Well this was getting interesting, so I thought I'd try another link. Next on the list was capitalist magazine, and there at the top of the page was the top story, Thanksgiving: An American Celebration of the Creation of Wealth. Here is the first paragraph from the article:

Thanksgiving celebrates man's ability to produce. The cornucopia filled with exotic flowers and delicious fruits, the savory turkey with aromatic trimmings, the mouth-watering pies, the colorful decorations -- it's all a testament to the creation of wealth.

Here is another article entitled, What's So Bad About Being Selfish?, and below are a few quotes from the same:

Selfishness means acting in one's rational self-interest. Contrary to popular opinion, all healthy individuals are selfish.

The opposite of selfishness is self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice means giving up a greater value for a lesser value.

Certainly, a selfish person wants to share his success with those he genuinely cares about--his family, friends, or children (greater values). But why should he make sacrifices to individuals he does not know or care about (lesser values)?

In a rational society, selfishness is encouraged. A rational society is one where individuals are left free to pursue their self-interest. In the process, everyone benefits. Rational selfishness means acting in your self-interest--and accepting responsibility for determining what truly serves your long-term interest. It is a nice alternative to a life filled with duty, drudgery and disillusionment.

These two articles were by Gary Hull who writes for capitalsim magazine and who is also a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute. ARI is an advocate of free-market capitalism with a focus on bringing it's philosophy to students, both in our high schools and our colleges. One common thread I've noticed so far is that the philosophy of Ayn Rand keeps popping up on practically all the pages promoting capitalism.

I'm becoming depressed now and I'm no longer sure if it's such a wise idea to keep our enemies closer. It just seems to turn things a shade of gray and brings on a feeling of hopelessness. You know, maybe that's the answer to why so many of us working people tend to support capitalism. We've been forced to wallow in the suffocating stench of the elite's shit for so long, we have begun to smell like shit ourselves!

I'll have to continue this once I feel well again. For now, I think I'll go take a shower to try to remove some of this stench and attempt to return to my life that is filled with duty, drudgery and disillusionment. I seem to find my simple life very consolling.