Song of the Week:
Jesus Freak Lighter by: Blood Orange
Heated Debate
I’d like to this of myself as a philosopher. One who questions everything in life. Trying to understand different points of views. I actually think everyone is a philosopher, they just haven’t found their topic that let’s their inner philosopher shine. Luckily, I found mine in college back in 2020. I took Politics of Philosophy. Don’t laugh but I actually got a B minus in that class all because I could not follow direction…quite literally.
At the time, politics were my favorite topics to discuss with people. I was obsessed. How could you not? 2020 was the year of every political turmoil you could think of wrapped up in a pretty bow, served on a cold platter for us. Even though the years leading up to 2020 were full of conundrums after conundrums, it was probably the best time to discuss politics.
Anyways in this class, we discussed many controversial topics such as meritocracy, universal healthcare, liberty, environment ethics, abortions and many more.1 It got me thinking of other various controversial topics that work mark me an anarchist or the crazy person yelling random shit on the street. I was ready to start a revolution. But my favorite debate would be could capitalism and democracy coexist? If yes, then in what ways are they working together?
What’s your Status
When I bring forth a question like this, there are two important items we need to unpack before we can even circle ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In this case we need textbook definitions and examples of capitalism and democracy. Which is just a quick google search or you can ask Chat GPT like I did.
And what you’ll read is that capitalism is an economic system that is characterized by private ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods and/or service. It has an emphasis on free markets, competition and the pursuit of profit. Chat GPT even provides a list of key features: minimal government intervention, profit motive, competition, supply and demand, etc.
Based on the definition, the errors in capitalism aren’t apparent; rather, it sounds like a fair system to use. The problems of capitalism don’t arise until it creates an economic hierarchy or what we call economic status. Once we start categorizing based on earnings and favoring certain classes over others that is when the truth, in my opinion, of capitalism fails.
What I mean by that is when a group of people control property and goods to only seek self-interested motives. It creates what is known as the one percent, those who’ve made it, generational wealth or the Bourgeois. On the other end of the scale there is the working class. Who are used as a means to an end thus getting exploited by the Bourgeois also known as the lower class, lower-middle class, middle class, lower-upper middle class or the Proletariats. What starts to happen is the Proletariats provide ‘cheap’ labor for the Bourgeois to make money. With their paycheck they must go buy goods or services from a different Bourgeois. Therefore, the Bourgeois make money off Proletariats by providing goods or services while also enquiring them for ‘cheap’ labor.
Once called capitalism can very quickly become a monopoly without some sort of regulation. This cycle can be detrimental to the people not in the group. Paired with favors of economic relief or social status, this system does not benefit anyone other than the Bourgeois. But one of the main quirks of capitalism is minimal government intervention or also known as Laissez-Faire economics. So how can we stop that from happening?
Is it democracy?
This definition has been stuffed down our throats in every history class. But as a refresher, democracy is a form of government in which power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected representatives under a free electoral system. At first glance, this sounds like the exact system we use. Then how come it doesn’t feel like it?
That’s because on the contrary America does not in fact use this. By definition, America does not follow the other half of democracy where we the people get to vote direct or called Direct Democracy. Technically, America blends different types of democracy into what we have today. Which is why we can’t say we follow democracy because it’s not entirely true. I know the shock! I went 20 years of knowing, took pride in, hell, even fought for this idea all for it to be a lie.
We use something called Representative Democracy which is a form of democracy in which citizens elect officials to make decisions on their behalf, rather than making those decisions directly. Combined with the term Democratic Republic. In which it is a type of republic where the head of state and other officials are elected by the people and the government’s authority is derived from the consent of the governed. And if you’re anything like me, your first thought is…
‘When did I give consent to being governed? When did I say yes?’
Well, according to some philosophers it was the moment you were born on American soil. You didn’t have to sign anything or give a verbal confirmation that you indeed want to be governed like this. Instead, it is an unknown informal agreement from society that we uphold The Constitution, after all we give it power. If we did not believe it, then it would cease to have power.
In this case, let’s say we signed it and agreed to this form of democracy, you enter this world. A world that already has elected officials that dictate the votes of the people. Who are they to you? Did you vote for them? These are the questions 18-year-olds need to ask themselves when they enter society. If not, we end up with what we have today which is a bunch of 80-year-olds running our future… into the ground I might add. However, opinions aside, how can democracy aid us in the concept of capitalism?
The only answer we have come up with is to vote. Vote for those who want to make a difference. Research candidates see what they believe in, see what they do outside of politics, do they put their money where their mouth is. And if you’re truly anything like me, you would be thinking ‘who got time for that?’. According to democracy… we do yet… according to capitalism no, we don’t. How can we dedicate time to practice democracy when we work 40 plus hour work weeks to stay alive… that is a rhetorical question.
Revolt, Revolt, Revolt
The only people who understand the answer are those in the Proletariats group. This answer has no other choice. What I mean by this, we already knew the answer to the original question above because it is the same answer as my rhetorical one. There is no answer. Because we already know the answer. And if that confuses you, I suggest you come back next Wednesday for part two of this vast debate that requires three parts. The only question that I can leave you with to sit and ponder and think about is, when are we going to change? So, that leaves me to end this week with Jesus Freak Lighter by Blood Orange. A song that strays from my normal taste in music but for some reason is a masterpiece. And fits this week’s theme because of its abnormal sound paired with only about three to five lines. That highlights themes of living in a make-up world in our mind that we need to wake up from. And honestly, with the way the world is right now… yeah, we do need to wake up.
- Capitalism and Democracy in the 21st Century: Proceedings of the … – International Schumpeter Society. Meeting, Dennis C. Mueller, Uwe Cantner – Google Books ↩︎
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