first: the problem

here's the problem:

in a natural, say, "tribal" society, one would farm, for example. the person would farm food for his/her family. this might happen 9 months out of the year. the summer would be time for rest. as long as the weather cooperated, there was always enough food. there were no ipods. but everyone was taught how to farm, therefore, everyone ate. everyone was fulfilled and happy. there was no depression, no substance abuse, no real social problems. there was no poverty.

then capitalism came. capitalism said to the farmer, "we have dammed the river and created chemicals, so now you can farm all year and grow greater yields. you can sell these. you can buy food and with any extra, an ipod. if you do not, we will kill you and farm where you once stood." so things changed. the farmer now worked all year, and bad weather couldn't stop that. there was no "famine" per se (as long as the farmer never quit), but there was also no time for rest. because now, with the new system which required more work (and destroyed the soil in the land), no more yield was produced for the farmer. the yield now went to the capitalist. the farmer no longer kept the product of his labor. now the farmer worked more (and maybe his family had to work now too) but received less. however the capitalist, he did not have to farm or work at all. his work was threatening the farmer. now that that was done, the farmer farmed for the capitalist. this went on.

now there are two ways to get rich. one gets you rich, and the other gets you super-rich. if you just want to get rich, all you have to do is please a capitalist (see musicians, athletes, entertainers of all kinds, and all those 'second in charge', right-hand-man types you don't remember the names of). if you want to get super-rich, you have to be the capitalist. that's the only way. and the only way to be a capitalist is to exploit the worker, the farmer, the proletariat (note that the names of the richest people in the world are not the entertainers and celebrities, they're the capitalists, like gates and trump and turner and the wall mart guys and so on). so basically, you can be a bastard or a whore. or you can starve, there's always that option. because if you don't suck a capitalists dick every once in a while (or try to compete with one by exploiting all the other whores and workers) than he won't give you any food. because, if you remember, they control all the food. that's how this whole thing started. oh, and you can't get rich by just working. the workers must always be kept wanting just a little bit more. that's how you keep them working. give them just enough to live, but no more. if a worker gets rich, he/she will not work anymore.

when i was a child, about 4, i was curious about money. where did it come from and what did we use it for, i wondered. and after i got a grip on it i said to my mom, "but we don't have to pay for food, right? food should be free." she let out a gentle laugh and said, "oh no, we have to pay for food." i was so puzzled. why would anyone allow such a thing to happen? how did it come this far?

now, i know what you are thinking (if you've even made it this far), "oh silly liberal, you just think everyone should get a free ride and not have to work for anything, don't you?" actually, no i don't. i do think you should have to work for food. of course. however, i also believe that if you make something, if you work to create something, you should get to keep it and everything it generates. why the trickle up? why should a capitalist get to keep the money made from a crop grown by a farmer? why should the capitalist get a dime? they like to sit back and call the unemployed lazy, however i find that sadly and bitterly ironic. the kings calling the servants lazy.

so now we've been going on like this for some time. we've wiped out an entire nation of natural, tribal farmers to create the "land of the free". again, ironic. and in this "free society" we are lush with social problems. alcoholism, depression, anxiety, OCD, ADD, HPV, AIDS, cancer, theft, abuse, and so on. not only did those "savage" farmers that we wiped out not have our social problems, they also didn't have disease. now look at us, with our ipods, we're so happy.

friends, this cannot go on. this capitalist system is destroying the world and everyone in it, and those in control have absolutely no reason, no incentive to do a damn thing about it. it HAS TO BE us. no one else is going to step up. god will not save us. we have got to save ourselves before this machine swallows itself. it's already starting to happen, right underneath our feet. take the time to look down and you might just see your life, and the lives of the farmers who we've walked over to get here, crumble away.