Anticapitalist capitalism
Anticapitalist capitalism
Wednesday, 01 September 2010 23:11
by Olavo de Carvalho
When I say that capitalist democracy can hardly survive without a culture of traditional values, many Brazilian classical liberals, hung up on economics and devoted to the magic omnipotence of the market, assume an expression of horror, of scandal, as if they were facing a heresy, an intolerable aberration, an iniquitous and morbid thought that should never occur to a normal member of the human race.
In so doing, they are only showing their complete ignorance about capitalist economic thought. That modest opinion of mine, in fact, is not mine. It only reflects and updates concerns that have been tormenting the great theorists of capitalism since the beginning of the twentieth century.
One of the first to express it was Hillaire Belloc, in his memorable 1913 book, The Servile State, reprinted in 1992 by Liberty Fund. Belloc’s thesis is simple, and the facts have not ceased to bear it out: unleashed from moral, cultural, and religious control, and elevated to a supreme and autonomous dimension of existence, the market economy destroys itself, entering into symbiosis with political power and ending up transforming free labor into servile labor, private property into a temporary concession from a voracious and controlling state.
Tracking the origins of the process, Belloc noted that, ever since the Tudors’ plunder of the Church’s goods, every new attack on religion had been accompanied by one more wave of state attempts upon private property and free labor.
More:
http://theinteramerican.org/commentary/196-anti-capitalist-capitalism.html
September 6th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
[...] Anticapitalist capitalism [...]
September 6th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
[...] New Olavo De Carvalho article shows how capitalism eats itself: http://laiglesforum.com/2010/09/06/anticapitalist-capitalism/ The eroded backbone of the free market: [...]
September 6th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Unlike Capitalism, any form of Marxism is inevitably leaning on social engineering:
Any socialist society “must” be brought up accordingly to accept the state ideology, while a capitalist society is adjusting itself.
In other words, the socialist society is an artificial entity built on a specific philosophy by using specific engineering.
One of such engineering tools is an artificial “Moral Code of Communism Builders,” a ‘catechism’ that was mandatory in the Soviet school system (in China, it is known as “Mao’s quotes”; in N.Korea – “Code Chuchkhe” or something like that.)
The Capitalist society is a natural entity grown on the ground of natural economical and physical laws but only if and when such growth is limited by eternal moral values accepted by the humanity centuries ago and proven by Time.
The very poisonous essence of the Socialist system of upbringing is that it appeals to very natural but the most unpleasant traits of people: envy.
The entire social engineering is leaning and built on that trait.
“Why my neighbor has what I don’t? Is s/he better than I? We all are equal! And we all must be equal! If s/he has, GIVE me the same!”
Not “I will gain the same” but “GIVE me the same” – this is the fundamental of Socialism as it was and is brought up.
Hence, as soon as Capitalism starts “giving the same,” it inevitably starts destroying itself. Because “giving the same” is not based on natural economical and physical laws but on individual envy and greed.
Just as it manifested in Robin Hood fairy tale (I call it rob-in-hood), Socialism is based on robbery ideology grown on the soil of envy.
In the USSR, that fostered envy gave birth to ferocious class hatred for anybody who is even slightly different (in anything: appearance, wealth, wages, mood, smile on face, etc.)
It’s exactly as some of our interlocutors in the forum who just “biologically” can’t accept that somebody can be a little smarter or more knowledgeable than they. It’s soooo Soviet!
I would recommend to read the following (scary reading, because it’s written mostly by liberals):
“Rethinking social inquiry” by H. Brady and D. Collier;
“Shaping the political age3nda” by R. Collier and D. Collier (it’s mostly about labor movements in Latin America, but very applicable to everywhere);
“The future of ethics” by Peter Edwards in a collection “The future of philosophy; toward 21st Century” edited by Oliver Leaman.
Other scary reading will come later
September 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
As the “Father of the Constitution”, James Madison himself stated, “We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
September 7th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Hello Litl Bits,
Your Madison quote is the condensed version of this article.
September 7th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
[...] recent article by Olavo de Carvalho shows why, and surprisingly, the author shows that his hypothesis of economics [...]
September 12th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
[...] thinks the free market can stay healthy without traditional morality, here is suggested reading: http://laiglesforum.com/2010/09/06/anticapitalist-capitalism/ [...]