Thursday, November 6, 2014

The Needs of the Many

I, myself, agree with Marx that capitalism is overall a hurtful system. I don't understand how a country so big and powerful as the United States can have children living on the streets. I don't understand how a country so wealthy can let people go to bed hungry. We can do better. We should do better.

America overall doesn't like the word socialism (much less communist) and prides itself on being a capitalist society, so I don't see any big changes happening soon--at least not with the baby boomers running the show. I do, however, hope that our generation and the ones that come after will take large steps towards equality. Even if people take advantage of the system--and there will be some that definitely take advantage--isn't it worth it if it means our society as a whole will be better?

Poverty is a big push towards crime. A lot of crimes are committed by desperate people, and even sadder, a lot of crime is created by people who, since birth, have been living in that environment. Let's give everyone a home. Even if they haven't "earned it." Let's make sure that America does not allow one single person to starve to death on the streets, no matter what. Let's make sure no one goes broke simply because they had an accident or because they got cancer. Health care should not be a privileged. Let's make higher education free. Education should be a right. I believe minimum wage should be enough to for a single mother to afford a two bedroom apartment and food and bills.

Even if--if--that made people lazier, so what? Our community would be happier and we would all be safer and a lot more equal (hopefully). I truly don't think it would make people lazier, though. I don't think we would stop innovating. We'd still be consumers. We'd still try to find fulfilling work. It's just that we wouldn't be terrified that if we fail, if we make one mistake, we could ruin our entire lives. We wouldn't be in mountains and mountains of debt. Hell, I even think we, as a country, would be more innovative since we'd have a higher amount of educated people (since a good education would be free and kids grew up in a good, safe environment, not starving and fearing they won't have a roof over their heads the next day) and with fair wages we'd have more money to buy all of that stuff AND TIME to actually enjoy it. No one should have to work two jobs just to get by.

And if rich people wanna cry about how that's unfair to them and their pile of money that it would literally take 4 lifetimes to spend, well, they can suck it up and enjoy the happy society they will get live in. Capitalism likes to make us sympathize with these people by making us hope we will one day be them. We won't. They can foot the bill for this great new society, and it's not that big of a tragedy if they only have 2 mansions instead of 7.

4 comments:

  1. I agree with you one hundred percent, we should help all people in the US, even if they do not deserve it. But I have one thing you should ask yourself. Would you want someone living with you if they have killed people or have been know to act out violently towards people? I think yes all people should have a home but I also think that people should always be safe and have caution.

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    1. What do you mean by living with you? Like inside my home? Of course not. I definitely am not saying that we can just stick the homeless into other people's homes. According to this article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-skip-bronson/post_733_b_692546.html) there are actually enough houses ready to house the entire homeless population of this country.

      If you're asking about having killers and violent people move into your neighborhood, well, that is more of a tricky question. Building a "special" area for these people to live in sounds disastrous, and all of the well intended projects (public housing) eventually turn into slums. My solution would be lots and lots of therapy. Our prison and police systems are incredibly messed up. They make a profit, and therefore they NEED crime to continue working. That has to stop. Prison should, in my opinion, be one big therapy session where people get help. Like Plato said, sick souls are what creates sick actions. I believe people can turn their lives around with enough help. So, if the therapists believe that the person that is good enough to rejoin society, that they are not a threat, then yeah, let them reenter society. If the therapist believes that there is a medium to high chance that the individual will continue hurting others, though, then I believe they should keep them in prison. So for example, pedophiles should probably be kept completely away from children and heavily watched. But is a man that killed his wife's rapist, for example, a big threat to society as a whole? Is he likely to kill again? I would think not, though he'd definitely need a ton of therapy to cope.

      I agree that people should be safe. But all crimes are not created equal, and segregating ex-prisoners from the regular community would just hurt more than it would "help"--if it even helps anyone. Think of the children of those ex-prisoners that would have would have to live in that environment, and you bet that that would create a stigma for them, just like growing up in the "ghetto" does now. The more together we can keep our society the better. Creating little separate groups is never a good idea.

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  2. I agree with Marx perspective on Capitalism as well. And who wants to work all their lives because their being sold this false hope that one day all their hard work will pay off and that they too could be the next millionaire or billionaire. The chances are very low that people will become that wealthy that is why everyone should have equal opportunity for not wealth but a stress free, financial stability. Maybe the wealthy should sacrifice the wealth in order to the whole economy financially stable.

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    1. I'm glad you agree, Terika. I think that's the first step towards change: people realizing that our current system is unfair and needs to change. I don't think America is unfixable. I strongly believe that a good generation can steer this country closer to Utopia. I think our generation can raise that glorious generation that can turn it all around. To achieve that, our generation needs to realize that the current world is unfair and when we come into power, take steps towards fixing it. Most importantly, however, is for us to teach our kids, nephews and grandchildren that we must be kind to each other, that we need to help the helpless, that we must work together. Get a good generation that doesn't try to compete but instead works together and we could be golden.

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