A Morality of Conscience

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A Morality of Conscience

We’re failing and it is in the application of the policies that drive this failure that our greatest failure lays.  The current morality of greed is driven by mistaken ideas and a bankrupt ideal, what is needed is a change to a morality of conscience. 

The System is Broken

I am accused, often, of confabulating meanings and attempting to redefine terms so that they fit with that which I am trying to articulate.  Indeed, I must admit that this is true.  But, it is not a failure of mine, but rather a failure of the English language in attempting to articulate that which is new. 

The English language, although great and varied, does not lend itself well to new ideas when the words used to describe those ideas are steeped in old traditions and worn out concepts.  Such a concept is capitalism.  Capitalism no longer means, as it once did, that every person has the right to try and better their particular circumstances through providing a good or service more efficiently than their competitors.  While this seems to be the way that many people understand capitalism, they simply do not understand the way that the system has been put together over time. 

Today, capitalism has but one goal and that is to eliminate competition by any means necessary, fair or foul.  There are some, perhaps many, which would argue against this idea, but the purpose of the capitalist ideal is to create a monopoly.  That is, to create the circumstances by which the product or service of the capitalist stands alone and competition is eliminated.  In the cause of this goal any means necessary are allowed.  Subversion of the government, elimination of competition, exploitation of the workers and lying to the consumers are all allowed or even demanded in the course of attempting to gain a position of market dominance. 

Some would argue against this, suggesting, inaccurately, that free market competition without government regulation will lead to the cheapest and most plentiful of products and services.  And in such a “free market” the invisible hand would, perhaps, lead to this very thing.  However, there can be, when humans are involved, no such thing as a “free market”.  A free market dictates that all competitors for the production of a good or service have the same access to the government, the same access to resources and a level field of play.  Of course, this in an ideal which has never been true and may not ever be true.  If such a free market existed, Wal-Mart and its ilk would be unable to drive out competition by an artificial (and temporary) reduction in prices.  It is, in essence, unfair competition, but this is the hallmark of free market capitalism.