curiousbrain
Well-Known Member
I recently had a conversation with my brother ... it was interesting, as the title alludes to.
The thesis was that capitalism inside democracy is functional in the long run, while democracy inside capitalism is not sustainable for any sufficiently long duration (whatever that may be).
To be more specific, a capitalist system functioning under (or inside, to use the previously mentioned term) a democratic government is sustainable because the economic goals and aspirations will always be constrained by what is considered to be "right and proper."
On the other hand, a democratic system cannot survive if it is slave (or operates inside) to the economic model of capitalism because it (i.e. the people and/or their representatives) will always be subservient to the motives of profit, greed, etc.
In short, the two are composed of opposite ideals. To this end, we did concede that perhaps the friction between the two elements generated a sort of "social energy" that motivated progress, whatever that may be.
How this relates to current events is that we (him and I) proceeded to discuss the finer points of what the situation in this country is: does the democratic system still hold control over the capitalist idealism we all (or, most of us) like to believe we have, or have we surrendered the "grand experiment" to greed?
There was no hard and fast conclusion that we reached, but there were good points as we toured the subject in a reasonably systematic and rigorous fashion. Seemed worth sharing the premise with others, as I found it ... delightfully intriguing.
The thesis was that capitalism inside democracy is functional in the long run, while democracy inside capitalism is not sustainable for any sufficiently long duration (whatever that may be).
To be more specific, a capitalist system functioning under (or inside, to use the previously mentioned term) a democratic government is sustainable because the economic goals and aspirations will always be constrained by what is considered to be "right and proper."
On the other hand, a democratic system cannot survive if it is slave (or operates inside) to the economic model of capitalism because it (i.e. the people and/or their representatives) will always be subservient to the motives of profit, greed, etc.
In short, the two are composed of opposite ideals. To this end, we did concede that perhaps the friction between the two elements generated a sort of "social energy" that motivated progress, whatever that may be.
How this relates to current events is that we (him and I) proceeded to discuss the finer points of what the situation in this country is: does the democratic system still hold control over the capitalist idealism we all (or, most of us) like to believe we have, or have we surrendered the "grand experiment" to greed?
There was no hard and fast conclusion that we reached, but there were good points as we toured the subject in a reasonably systematic and rigorous fashion. Seemed worth sharing the premise with others, as I found it ... delightfully intriguing.
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