Unbridled Capitalism vs. Human Strife

        Welcome back, My Dear Readers, to The Other Shoe. Today I am going to write about a concern I am facing with regarding my publications at The Other Shoe. I like to write about news and policy that strikes a personal note, to me. Policy that effects my life, or the lives of people close to me. For the past three years I have written articles on a myriad of subjects. I have never written any article just to lambast a party or political party member.

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I do not write articles to bias anyone. I do my best to write articles that are, at their core, unbiased. I avoid writing about junk ‘news’ or who is investigating whom. I do not hide the fact that my personal politics are ‘progressive’. I admire President Teddy Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt (coincidence or what?) It is my heartfelt belief that America is built on the shoulders of the working class. I believe that concentrating wealth is a ‘Bad Thing’ and has resulted in two major economic downturns (The Great Depression and The Great Recession) have brought economic strife through out our great land.

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. I am not alone, in that school of thought. As a matter of fact, the majority of ‘Ivy League’ and non-religious (secular) economists agree. Wealth, in America, is built from the ground, up! I also think that our nation’s overall health can be judged by how well the least of us are doing. That America, like many other great civilizations (ancient Athens, Rome, Egypt to name a few) is built by the lower and Middle class. That without health, and a certain amount of wealth, in these working classes your nation will collapse.

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I learned, in college, history of many past civilizations. There does need to be a wealthy and or ruling class, but without the poor and Middle class’s wealth in mind? Your civilization will collapse. I do not, however, believe that any people should be allowed to take advantage of programs for the; poor, seniors and the disabled. I do not think they should become a way of life. (As a side-note, there are more studies that show this phenomenon is less common than certain politicians claim). I do not believe in Social Darwinism. That just reeks of White Supremacy and Ruling RACE ideals. I have read Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ and ‘The Fountainhead’. I have also read L. Ron Hubbard’s ‘Dianeticis’.

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Having said, I no more believe Objectivism any more than I believe that aliens are responsible for all our ‘Bad Emotions’. I was born to, and raised, in a genuine Middle Class family in the 1960’s and 70’s. We were not rich, but we never went without. In my life I have lived.. poorly. With little income and living hand-to-mouth. I have also had the great fortune and (with hard work) lived and worked in Beverly Hills! I have saved money, often, in my life. I had quite a bit of savings, when I was struck with this malady. I hated that, in fact, I went through it faster than it took to save. When I first got ill and could not work.

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I do not think it is good for our country for millions of Americans to be homeless. I do not think it is in the best interest of our nation’s future for children to go hungry in the single wealthiest nation in the history of mankind. Regardless of why the child’s family does not have money for food? The child should never go hungry. Period. Neither do I believe that a child of three or four should weigh a hundred pounds (or more). Aye, there’s the rub! See, like a ‘canary-in-a-coal-mine’ I think there is an social… natural indicator of something institutionally wrong. That in one single neighborhood there can be a child nearly starving, going to bed every night hungry. And two blocks over, there is a child the exact same age and they are morbidly obese. THAT, My Dear Readers, is like a canker sore for everyone to see. This, obviously to me, is a sign of an underlying illness (sociologic and economic) much in need of a cure.

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However, like mankind’s shift from the polytheisms of ancient man, to today’s monotheism. The cure of which I speak would be as; difficult, instrumental, and world shaping. Imagine that, for just a moment. For the past two millennium (two thousand years) mankind (for the most part) now believe in the monotheism of One True God.

However, for nearly ten times the length in time (it is estimated that mankind worshipped many ‘God’(s) for roughly twenty thousand years) polytheism was the truth!

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We all learned of the Grecian ‘God’(s); Zeus, Athena and Apollo to name just a few.[1] These “God’(s) were worshipped for nearly a thousand years. (from 800 BC to 200-300 AD)[2] In the land of Ur (ancient Mesopotamia) dates back to 3,800 BC and in Ur they were polytheists that believed in Gods in the sky. The father of Abraham (the father of the Hebrew faith, and the beginning of Monotheism) was a maker of statues of these ‘Gods. It was Abraham that is the single man that set in motion the change, for all mankind, the shift from polytheism to our modern day monotheism. The Hebrew Bible (the Torah - Tanakh) was the very first book of its type.[3] The very first time mankind had written down the stories that made up their faith.

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Mankind has not always believed in “One True God”. In reality mankind has spent more millennium convinced that there were many ‘Gods’ than mankind has spent practicing monotheism. That’s right! We, the people of this planet, are new to this monotheism. It took a thousand years, for this new religion to take root. Many millions of the followers of; Judaism, Christianity and other monotheistic religions DIED in the pursuit of this new faith. This faith that taught “One God rules all things” and not what had been worshipped and believe for ten times two-fold millennium before. However, here we are in a world where practitioners of polytheism are referred to as pagans. A world where billions of human beings believe in the ‘One True God’ be his/her name be; Yahweh, God or Allah.

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It is this kind of monumental change mankind is facing, today. Capitalism is actually kind of new. It is not always been the engine that drove commerce. For a time, not so long ago, England and Spain built these huge Armadas. Fleets of ships that roved the seas. They would do some exploring, but that was not the reason for their existence. These huge fleets of ships, these Armadas, were built for one reason. Theft!

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Each country used their armada to steal gold and spices and treasures from the ‘New World’ going back to Europe. This was from around the later part of the Sixteenth century and the beginning of the Seventieth. For several decades… and I found this so flipping amazing when I studied it in college… These two World Powers actually considered stealing from each other ‘Commerce’. They based their entire economies on trading wealth back and forth. Looking back across time… it is pretty nearly hilarious. However, at the time it was happening? They were deadly serious. They were stealing gold and artifacts from cultures they conquered and killed (not creating anything, just killing and stealing). Then, as they were brining these treasure back (again, stolen loot) the opposing faction would attack and steal (yet again) the ill-gotten loot.

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OK So, you see, back in the latter sixteenth century and well into the seventieth the two largest powers on the planet Earth built their whole economies on theft! The Spaniards would steal from the Incans. While taking the gold and treasure back from the New World the English would raid their ships and steal the loot stolen from the Incans. Then, when the Spanish royal family was low on loot, and just couldn’t get a ship home with the stolen loot. Then the Spaniards would take their armada and steal back the stolen Incan loot. Round and round this went, for several decades, until one day one side woke up and decided that this economic model is unsustainable.

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My point is that this seemed, for a time, a perfectly normal and viable engine for commerce. Just as the monotheist looks back on polytheism and thinks to themselves how stupid (FYI this is reflected in the tradition of ‘April Fools’ – Pagan vs. Christian). We now look back on the circle of theft that sustained huge Armadas as foolishness. It is in my heart of hearts that do believe that one day (and it may be soon) mankind will look back on the capitalism as the same kind of cannibalistic engine for an economy. That capitalism was an improper and even immoral engine to drive a people’s economy.

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Then, today, I see an article about the newly sworn in Pope Francis. Pope Francis recently Tweeted:

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““My thoughts turn to all who are unemployed, often as a result of a self-centered mindset bent on profit at any cost.”[4]

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He regularly cites the pitfalls of unrestrained capitalism. Speaking on Vatican Radio in May of this year;

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“A society that “does not pay a just wage”, that “does not give work” to people; a society that “that only looks to its balance books, that only seeks profit” is unjust and goes against God.”[5]

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Further;

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“"Not paying a just [wage], not providing work, focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at making personal profit. That goes against God! How many times – how many times – have we read in 'L'Osservatore Romano' .... A headline that impressed me so much the day of the Bangladesh tragedy, 'Living on 38 euros a month': this was the payment of these people who have died ... And this is called 'slave labor!'. And today in this world there is slavery that is made with the most beautiful gift that God has given to man: the ability to create, to work, to be the makers of our own dignity. How many brothers and sisters throughout the world are in this situation because of these, economic, social, political attitudes and so on ... ".[6]

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And even further;

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“Today - the Pope said - we can no longer say what St. Paul said: "He who will not work, will not eat," but we have to say: "He who does not work, has lost his dignity", because "he cannot find any opportunities for work". On the contrary: "Society has stripped that person of dignity." [7]

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Finally;

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“Today, it would do us good to listen to the voice of God, when he spoke to Cain, saying: "Cain, where is your brother?". Today, however, we hear this voice: "Where is your brother who has no work? Where is your brother who is subjected to slave labor?. Let us pray, let us pray for all these brothers and sisters who are in this situation. So be it"[8] .

I find it reassuring that on the very day I am ready to publish this article. These quotes I find from our current Pope. Comments, so rarely seen from head’s of state, about the crippling income disparity that runs rife through out our land.

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I do not think that the Pope is attacking capitalism or the wealthy. That is a strategy that would likely fail. I believe that the Pope, like myself, is urgently warning mankind of the pitfalls of unrestrained capitalism! That living just by the bottom line of a ledger is not a viable plan. That we, as a people, as a nation, and a species have to work to create more and equal opportunity. Least our societies collapse.

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That brings us to the end of (what took three and a half days to write) this article. As always, My Dear Readers, you deeply honor me by coming here to read my words. In closing, I want you to rest assured. I mean no harm or offense to anyone. Thank you!

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Daniel's Relocation and General Assistance Fiunding Canpaigni[/caption]

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[1]http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/gods/explore/exp_set.html

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_primordial_gods

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible

[4]http://www.nbcnews.com/business/pope-world-economy-he-market-friendly-or-rebel-6C10860679

[5]http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/01/pope:_dignity_for_the_dhaka_workers,_dignity_for_the_jobless_/en1-687977

[6]http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/01/pope:_dignity_for_the_dhaka_workers,_dignity_for_the_jobless_/en1-687977

[7]http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/01/pope:_dignity_for_the_dhaka_workers,_dignity_for_the_jobless_/en1-687977

[8]http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/05/01/pope:_dignity_for_the_dhaka_workers,_dignity_for_the_jobless_/en1-687977