In reading "Keeper of Dream", I found the inter-use of the terms 'freemarket' and 'capitalism' disheartening. The Founders based our government upon righteous ideals. The economy was one based upon personal freedoms, a free market-thence freemarket. This ideal has been abused and destroyed. No longer is there a freemarket, instead we now have a capital-istic economy.
The differences may seem slight, yet it is the difference between cooperative consecration, and communism. On the one hand everything is being consecrated to a higher power, and then--by common consent--those material goods are redistributed for the good of the whole and the good of the individual.
On the other hand, Communism takes away all goods, for the common good, and then redistributes to the group. Power is usurped and force is the means of this leveling. As someone infamous once said, "Send me, I will take all of these, and not one will be lost, but give me the glory."
Even though the differences may be slight, the results are infinitely divergent.
My hope is that the clarity which OSC brings to the characters of his books can be enlarged to include the mundane. As always,
~A huge fan~
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote: The Founders based our government upon righteous ideals.
You would have to explain what you mean by this, both overall and in terms of market economics.
Posted by Clumpy (Member # 8122) on :
I have to agree. Adam Smith never intended nor could have predicted the ridiculous, exploitative system we have now. Originally even in the U.S. it was illegal to have an interstate business until the megarich found out ways to subvert the rule. It's been said, and I agree, that Marx was nearly completely wrong about the benefits or feasibility of Communism, but he was completely right about capitalism.
A government that doesn't regulate capitalism isn't protecting freedom - it's just permitting those with power and money to aggregate even more and set the rules.