From an email I received today while discussing income inequality and the need for unions
"We should be more compassionate but should beggars dictate the terms ?"
I suppose that's the gist of the "compassionate conservatism" world order where a group of rich overlords decide which one of the beggars they should take a little pity on and toss them some underpaid jobs so they can live on as virtual slaves with no future.
More below the fold.
I have a small groups of email friends and we chat daily about any sorts of topics, from investment, education, to politics.
It started when I brought up the teaching condition which makes some of the best teachers consider leaving the teaching profession. This person (who teaches at a university in Virginia) replied with:
"Nobody ever says that capitalism is fair.... if capitalism is what we want for our society..."
and later followed on with:
"I would rather see you engage more in the the big picture/concept policy level"
So that's what the oligarchy wants to hide behind in their unabashed exploitation of workers: the unquestionable superiority of capitalism.
Since he wanted the big picture, I gave him the big picture of what I think of capitalism. There are three kinds of capitalism.
1) The original unabated capitalism before the threats of revolutions, Communism and unions. This was in the days before we had child labor laws, minimum wages, 40-hour work week, etc. In those days, nothing had to be fair in terms of equality and anything would be allowed as long as both parties agreed to the deal. Nobody put a gun to the head of a kid to force him to work in a factory for 60 hours/week at a much lower wage than what his parents could have got for the same job. Children and their parents have the choice of being exploited so corporations could make more profit or facing starvation.
And they took the choice of being exploited on their own free will. Until they revolted.
2) The whatever-I-call-capitalism capitalism. This is the form of capitalism practiced by the US and third world countries. This is very similar to the original capitalism but with some arbitrary regulation thrown in, like child labor law (which Republicans want to get rid of), 40-hour work week (not observed if you desperately need a job and your Republican employer knows it), minimum wage (it's there but nobody can live on that wage in the US these days), no drug deals (what's up with that ? Aren't people supposed to do any deals among themselves under capitalism if both sides are happy with the deal ? Why the trouble with police and jail and stuff to stand in the way of business ?).
It's essentially back to the law of the jungle again. The arbitrary patchwork rules are thrown in to provide a facade of compassion but no big picture purpose is inherent in this whatever-I-call-capitalism capitalism practice. Big picture such as the "pursuit of happiness" for the general populace.
But there are really two laws of the jungle: the financial one and the physical one.
The financial one is where people with the most money will win and the physical one is where people with the biggest mass/sticks/guns/tanks will win. While unabated capitalism wants to cling to the dog-eat-dog world of financial law of the jungle, the people who are oppressed and have little left to lose might choose the physical law of the jungle and revolted and against all the "laws" designed to hold them down as virtual slaves.
That's what we're seeing around the world right now. Facing the prospect of spending generations after generations of being virtual slaves just to survive, they decided that they would rather die to get their fair shares and to have their voices heard.
3) The for-the-people capitalism: This is the form of capitalism practiced by almost all other developed countries other than the US. The free-trade aspect of capitalism is confined within the general purpose of providing welfare to the people. Capitalism is merely the means to the pursuit of happiness, not the purpose all by itself. Unions are established and respected as the way for workers to have a voice and individuals do not have to undergo threats by vengeful or exploitive employers. Social safety nets are established so workers have better choices than being underpaid or starve. Health care is universal, people are healthier and infant mortality rate is low. Incarceration rate is much lower since there's much less reason for people to choose a life of crime. Nobody goes bankrupt just because he gets sick. Income inequality is lower. People are generally much happier.
That's when he replied with:
"We should be more compassionate but should beggars dictate the terms ?"
So, that's what it boils down to. Do we want to be beggars or do we want to follow Dr King's footsteps and demand “all labor has dignity.” ?
A few days before he died, for the dignity of all of us.