subscribe or follow us:                    

A Libertarian Perspective on Capitalism A Love Story

3 comments

Posted by PunkJohnnyCash on Oct 5, 2009 in Corporatism, Libertarianism, Senate | 3 comments

capitalism_a_love_story_mCapitalism: A Love Story is a well made film which brings up many wonderful points and injustices in our society.  It approaches each of these by showing the tragedies and not really addressing root causes.  It makes some wonderful arguments against many things we free market capitalists have been trying to bring to the attention of the main stream for decades, but then turns around and calls those things capitalism. It is only fair to tell you going into this that I am a libertarian minded supporter of the school of Austrian economics which makes me extremely pro-capitalist.

Moore starts the film with a rendition of Louie Louie that bashes on Capitalism and shows low quality footage of bank robberies in his attempt to paint what he calls capitalism as this violent act of force against the people.  Herein lies the initial most constant flaw of the film.  Speak to just about any libertarian minded capitalist and they will tell you they believe in a free market system, but one of the largest things they will oppose is committing acts 0f force or fraud.  This is what Michael Moore spends the film focusing on, acts of force and fraud.  Much of his argument relied on classic complaints of free market advocates, only now decades after these free market advocates spoke out against these injustices in support of a free market system Mr. Moore decides to listen to our complaints and label all of them with this vague term “Capitalism”.

The film approaches capitalism from the beginning with an extremely Marxist view and definition.  The philosophy and definitions given start with bias against free market concepts.  There is an attempt to discredit certain “Capitalists” by showing one question the concept of democracy.  I have a feeling that if Mr. Moore were in the deep south before the Civil War he may also have a problem with democracy as he would watch the 51% oppress the 49%.  Moore goes on to say that the economic system he supports is democracy.  He does not address the fact that democracy is not an economic system.  Those with little political knowledge will fail to see the humor or lack of proposal he has given.

The film often supports concepts of workers uprisings, similar to those seen in the United States before WWII and McCarthy.   These ideas are presented to seem revolutionary and new. You get the feel that he would not like the audience to know which “ism” he does support.

The film goes on to follow families around who are being evicted from homes and portraying the struggle of the haves and the have nots.  You begin to feel for their struggles and hardships.  The whole time this ignores the hand of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the federal reserve and the large role government had in this tragedy.

Most who watch will agree that what Michael Moore is confronting is unjust and wrong.  Few would defend it.  The largest focus is in the second half when he goes on to attack the Bank Bailout.  This was all said to be more “Capitalism”.  For some reason he seems to believe that when you socialize loss and privatize gains that can be considered more capitalism.  I fail to see how any of that is a Free Market concept whatsoever.  If you support the left leaning so-called progressive powers that currently hold power, or if you are able to get past the constant blame on the fairy tale free market they claim exists in the U.S. you will see some phenomenal points of areas our country is corrupt with corporatism.  It is wonderful seeing the powers that be in Congress and at the Federal Reserve being called out, but It seems that these powers that enabled much of this did often not receive enough of the blame they are due.

Moore takes the time to blast on Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner and many on Capitol hill.   This part not many will disagree on much aside from his exploitation of the word Capitalism.  Moore goes to Wall-Street and claims that he is there to make citizens arrests.  It is fun to watch the confrontations between security and Mr. Moore as he stands around with that pensive look on his face he does so well.  This is followed by a praise for hope & change extolling the virtues of Obama and the dawning of a new era he is believed to be bringing.  This ironically ignores all the similar decisions and steps the Obama administration has made that have helped to perpetuate these problems, corruptions, and to continue in this direction.

I strongly suggest this film to all proponents of Capitalism and Libertarian minded individuals, if nothing more than to understand the arguments that are being used against Capitalism and there is much to learn from here.  Try to watch this and understand what it is that those who would oppose a free market would believe about a free market economy.  This will quickly reveal the misconceptions of free market economies held by it’s opponents and those that support the blended economy concepts our country has supported for over a century.

MARIJUANA FEST STOKES FIGHT FOR LEGALIZATION.(METRO)

The Capital Times October 9, 2006 | Williams-Masson, Ellen The skies were clear but a haze hung over hundreds of marijuana activists as they paraded up State Street to the Capitol for the 36th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival. go to website legalization of cannabis

Some who marched advocated marijuana for medicinal purposes, while others championed hemp as an answer to the state’s agricultural woes.

And more than a few undoubtedly toked up for the sheer pleasure of smoking a doobie on a sunny afternoon on State Street.

“The sky didn’t fall, nothing happened, nobody got hurt, and we went all the way down the road in full public view and nothing went wrong,” activist Jim Miller from New Jersey said.

“It makes no sense that if this is the way it works, why are people going to jail for doing that, when nothing happened?” Miller is part of the “Commando Squad” that has fought for the legalization of medical marijuana and carries on the battle in memory of his wife, Cheryl.

Cheryl had lobbied for medicinal marijuana to ease her pain from multiple sclerosis before her death in 2003, and Miller played a tape of her agonized screams during physical therapy treatments without benefit of the drug.

Marijuana proponents have been fighting to legalize cannabis for decades since its criminalization in 1937, and local activist and Harvest Festival organizer Ben Masel believes they are slowly making headway.

“We’ve gotten a lot better, at least at the political level, at stopping new bad legislation,” Masel said. “A lot of progress is happening on hemp agriculture.” Masel lost the U.S. Senate Democratic primary to incumbent Herb Kohl last month but secured more than 51,000 votes, more than half of which he attributes to marijuana supporters.

Masel also lost a Republican primary to Tommy Thompson in the 1990 governor’s race when he ran on a platform advocating the use of hemp in agriculture.

Gary Storck, cofounder of the Madison branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), lamented the death of the medical marijuana bill during the past congressional session and pointed to the Capitol building when he spoke at the rally.

“The people in this building are responsible for that bill dying in committee,” he said. “It’s time to turn these mothers out. We need you to vote, and we need to get your friends to vote.” Storck, Miller and other activists will be traveling throughout the state before the Nov. 7 election in an attempt to get candidates’ positions on record regarding the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Storck cited a 2002 poll conducted by his group “Is my medicine legal yet?” (IMMLY) that reported over 80 percent of Wisconsin residents support legalized medical marijuana.

“No candidate should be able to run for office and get elected without stating their position on medical marijuana,” Storck said. “Why won’t they just do the people’s will?” Joann Price of Verona suffers from spinal muscular atrophy and also questioned why her medicine of choice isn’t legal.

“I don’t see why something that is a gift from God, a herb, made in the ground. . .can’t be legalized,” Price said from a wheelchair. “You’ve never heard of anybody getting into a fist fight or beating their spouse after they smoked a joint.” Proponents like Price say cannabis provides pain relief and alleviates a host of other medical conditions without the side effects or high costs of many prescription drugs. go to web site legalization of cannabis

The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement in April 2006 that the FDA, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Office of National Drug Control Policy “do not support the use of smoked marijuana for medical purposes” because of a lack of sound scientific studies required for the FDA drug approval process.

Plenty of patients continue to self-medicate with marijuana, however, often as an alternative to prescription drugs. Cassius, a 23-year-old veteran who served in the Airborne Rangers, returned home from Baghdad with bottled up rage and a hand-rolled remedy to ease the pain.

“I smoke weed, and I’m going to die smoking weed,” he said, declining to give his last name. “If I want to smoke marijuana, I can be judged, but I can fight and die for the country, and see my battle buddies blown up on land mines in Fallujah.” Cassius, a Gary, Indiana native, says he never used drugs before joining the military but now smokes pot on a daily basis to “mellow out” since he came home to a life of unemployment and disillusionment.

“A lot of rich guys, Caucasians, like to pull out their scotch with two ice cubes,” he said. “War gives you a gift, because when you come back, you look at things differently.” Williams-Masson, Ellen

Comments

Powered by Facebook Comments

  • ryan

    free market capitalism can't exist. I was excited to see a site that said "think outside of government" but these right wing perspectives are idiotic and will result in statism. You aren't thinking about the causes of the state, which is to protect wealth and maintain a class society. You don't take into account that the actual capitalists in the market, who wish to gather large amounts of wealth, need a state. A free barter based market naturally leads to a monetary system (to further expand profit). which then leads to more and more corporatist politics; the rich must cooperate with the state to keep their wealth. You can thank the systemic wealth concentration capitalism entails for the state you hate.

  • ryan

    free market capitalism can’t exist. I was excited to see a site that said “think outside of government” but these right wing perspectives are idiotic and will result in statism. You aren’t thinking about the causes of the state, which is to protect wealth and maintain a class society. You don’t take into account that the actual capitalists in the market, who wish to gather large amounts of wealth, need a state. A free barter based market naturally leads to a monetary system (to further expand profit). which then leads to more and more corporatist politics; the rich must cooperate with the state to keep their wealth. You can thank the systemic wealth concentration capitalism entails for the state you hate.

  • Anonymous

    Capitalism cannot exist without corruption anymore then statism can exist without corruption. People being evicted from there homes is 100% the fault of capitalism. Capitalism creates hierarchy. Michael Moore may not be “all there” in regards to everything he says, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t seeing a part of the bigger picture, namely, capitalism is inherently exploitative. The free market is a lie; no capitalist system is compatible with true freedom. Sure, there would be freedom for those doing well on the market, but do you really think that would be even close to everyone? And do you really think everyone could ever all hold the capital? Those doing badly on the market would end up needing to seek employment from others. And that would just make them wage slaves, like we have now. Smash the state, smash the capital, and then humans will have the possibility of true freedom.