Kunowledge

A guy named Luke Riddle wrote an article entitled “Capitalistic Socialism” in which he states that, “Capitalism, no matter how you slice it sets money up as an idol.” This article is a response on “Capitalistic Socialism” as I disagree with the ideas Riddle lays forth.

Though his idea that money is Capitalism’s idol appears to be the case based on our current model of American Capitalism, I would argue that if you slice capitalism into its purest form, it sets production, not money up as its idol. What I mean by production is simply the creation of goods, services, or anything of value.

When a person creates something of value, he is contributing to the betterment of society. If it is of no value, inherently, it will not be a contribution to society, and thus, be worthless. If it is truly worthless, its monetary value will be zero. Capitalism appears to set money up as its idol solely on the fact that money has distortedly become the representation of value in our society. I argue that if the mindset of people were to adjust slightly to recognize production (adding value) as the ideal of Capitalism (and existence) instead of money (the tool and representation of value), then the world would be a better place.

Riddle goes on to say that, “Money and its love debase this precious spark of honor and family, community and welfare. Thus I reject it.” Quite on the contrary, money and its love are the spark of honor that fans the flame of family, community and societal welfare.

Thought experiment:

Three families live in Simple Town. Jack’s family lives on a farm that harvests wheat. Chuck’s family harvests corn. And my family lives in the same Town.

If I do not love producing (creating, giving), then I do not produce. If I do not produce, I contribute nothing for my family. If I contribute nothing for my family, I have nothing extra to contribute towards my community. In order to survive, I must instead live off the production of my family and/or community. As my family, they are sure to love me and care for my existence. If I reject production for myself, them, or others, then who will provide for me?

If I do not provide for myself, I lay my life at the hands of others. It is now the responsibility of the people around me to keep me alive. Jack and Chuck do not want to see my die, as it will sadden them, their families, and thus the entire community. Jack and Chuck have to work a little harder to produce enough to provide for not only themselves, their families, and each other, but also my family as well. The hatred of production is a burden on Simple Town.

However, if on the other hand, I love to produce, then I will work hard to create something of value for my family and community. The community will pay great sums of money (their own production) because my production is worth the fruit of the labor. If I understand that production is the goal, I will create a plow, or a tractor, or some other technology that will make their production of wheat and corn easier for Jack and Chuck. I offer to trade to them (sell them) my production (technology) for sufficient corn and wheat for my family to survive. They happily agree as they are now able to produce the same amount in half the time.

Their new found extra time is spent improving the production of wheat and corn. Jack finds a way to make healthier, softer, sweeter bread, while Chuck invents corn tortilla chips. I now no longer have to work everyday to feed my family, because I have created something of value that has saved everybody in our community time. I now spend my time harvesting tomatoes, and eventually create a salsa that I trade with Chuck for tortilla chips. We both now have chips and salsa which we pay to Jack for his softer, healthier bread. Everybody benefits.

This is the simplest form of socialistic capitalism, the socio-economic platform that will guide us into the future. We have come a long way through history and have a long way yet to go. We must continue to move forward, and we must do so by producing. But not for the sake of money. Money is but a tool, a representation of our production.

A person only needs so much money, then it is time to contribute more than his production, but also the fruit of his production for the benefit of the community. Men amassing money are not adding value to society. Men amassing money who, in turn, produce more with this tool, are adding value.

Money is neither good nor evil. It is neither to be loved, nor hated. It is a tool. A tool used to more easily provide benefit to a community. The more you benefit society, the more society benefits you. Collectively, we must recognize this, and capitalistically we must work (produce) with this in mind.

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