The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
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| Neal ’17 [Phil; April 21; “Just say “no” to capitalism,” The Ellsworth American; https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/just-say-no-capitalism/] SPark
If we step back from our political situation we can observe a revolving historical event: As long as our economy is based on capitalist principles, the best we can hope for is to place some constraints on the byproducts of capitalism. Capitalists resist the constraints by paying shills to confuse us and legislators to roll them back. Think Sisyph[u]s pushing the bolder uphill, only to watch it roll back down…forever. Until we reject capitalism we will be stuck in this back and forth of which constraints will be left in place. For example, drug companies want to get authorization to make drugs as quickly as possible, pay for advertising to convince you why you need them and then sell them for as much as possible. Left to their own devices, they have sold drugs that kill, harm or do not do what they claim, overcharge customers, pay their executives exorbitant wages, pay our legislators to look the other way, etc. Slowly we catch on and force our legislators to constrain them through law. Then, as now, those legislators, acting in the interests of drug companies, reach a critical mass and roll back the laws. Of course, they don’t admit to what they are doing. They spend their time concocting fantasies about why the rollback was good for their constituents. This scenario can be applied to just about any aspect of our society. Capitalists will fight constraints. How to combat capitalists? You can reason with them, boycott their products, write articles, educate consumers, but to what end? Just witness what we’re seeing now for your answer. Another approach is to opt out from supporting capitalism. There are alternative approaches, but you need to educate yourself and change your perspective. It’s not scary to envision another approach. Educate yourself about employee-owned cooperatives, a variety of sharing economies and yes, socialism. Most people under 30 have no issue with this. Most of us, when presented with the appropriate questions, have no problem with this. So, instead of complaining about capitalist byproducts, find a different way, a different perspective. It’s not all that hard. Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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