I wish I had grown up in the 70s. I love to hear stories from friends and family about the 70s.
I mean, it wasn't perfect, or some fairytale, but there was something freeing about that era.
It's known for throwing away the old norms of society and trying to find new ones that were a better fit.
A period of transition.
You can at least respect that ideal-Transition.
It wasn't just about survival and getting by like our current era; reaching the very top of some pre-constructed social ladder that will forever allude us-a goal that's been ingrained into our heads as something we've wanted since we were in diapers with only the ability to drool and vomit.
We will always want, regardless of class. And we will never stop wanting. That is why our system is so successful at making money, and everyone is so miserable with wanting things. Our system always makes us want more, and convinces us that we wanted something even before we knew it existed and was aware of what it did!
We are programmed to never be satisfied. To always want the latest gadgets that promises us lasting happiness, until the newest model comes out of course (tablets/phones, anyone?) that promises us the same thing.
In my opinion, the 70s were a time to be a little crazy and just rebel....shocker moment here... for the sake of rebelling. Because happiness is something that needs to be continually fought for, not pleaded for, or something to slave over.
We don't do that anymore though. We rebel against ourselves.
I don't see many bouncy afros, or high platform shoes, and I'd love to wear some kind of afro though I know people would disapprove. Or other wacky outfits that would most certainly be looked down on.
We no longer have that unquenchable fire in us, of never being satisfied but for the right reasons. To change things so we can keep experimenting with our reality to find something better. To find something more freeing and meaningful. To find something that expresses peoples' talents on a wider scale.
Rebelling for the sake of rebelling, but in my opinion, it was rebelling just to be heard.
Just to have people acknowledge who you are, what you are, and how you were exercising your role as a citizen of a country with many diverse cultures that shouldn't have one set of rules to conduct life. A country that shouldn't have a dominant culture (commercialized/pop culture) with one set of rules for everyone.
A one size fits all kind of thing.
Now, we identify with ourselves more as consumers of the same products than citizens of the same country.
Civic duties are seen more as a pain in the ass than anything interesting or something to get really riled up about or fired up about. It's no longer seen as a way to be influential and a part of the change occurring by protesting your hippy pants off.
What happened to wanting to be riled up about something and going out there and rebelling against the dominate, modern world?
Or am I being too idealistic in thinking the 70s were about this at all?
...Does not exist.
We need just enough regulation so that we don't wind up like those people in the laissez-faire capitalism of the Industrial Revolution. The unregulated, 'perfect' free market, with its always happy workers and customers. Circa 1902, picture one big family gathering together lovingly spending the whole day working in a hazardous factory, badly lighted, like a second home. Well, it kind of was their second home. Lost body limbs galore. What a great game too, seeing who can stay unharmed the longest in the factory.
For perfect capitalism to exist, we have to assume people are perfect and don't take advantage of other people and situations. (we have to assume that survival alone isn't the main focus in society; survival makes us do crazy things).
We have to assume that government will let Mom and Pop stores breathe (hypothetically speaking, relax on regulation) to truly be competitive, but it just doesn't work like that.
Little businesses turn into big businesses. Period.
The more popular and big that quaint little business becomes, this little guy turns into the big guy and swallows the other little guys up, even when this little guy got popular due to good practices and not cheating and low-ball, dirty tactics.
But businesses do take unfair advantages and resort to dirty tactics, because we live in a cut-throat, highly competitive society, and somehow people can tolerate that.
Your coworker will continue to throw you under the bus, basically, and you'll understand why.
People, though they may not like it, can tolerate a highly competitive, cut-throat society, so we will continue to see unfair business practices. Illegal business practices, because of the mantra of 'no regulation!,' not considering the fact that everyone in society is regulated.
We all have rules we have to abide by, like, for safety, for just one example.
We all have rules. Why would business be exempt for some ideal that doesn't exist.
People say that we're experiencing a period of corporatism or corprotocracy, because big business is asking government favors and those favors are being granted, with a little bit of bribing money of course.
Can't go anywhere without some bribing money.
What people fail to realize is that if a small business had a chance to be put in that favorable position, having enough money to bribe the government so they can stay in power within the market, they would do it. They don't call it competition for no reason. Companies will always try to find ways to be bigger and tougher than the competition, stooping to low moves because their survival and livelihood is linked to it. When something is linked to fear, humans behave immorally and irrationally.
Also, it's not necessarily socialism for government to favor certain businesses, because companies are paying for the privilege, in money or through providing special services.
We live in a society/market where everything can essentially be bought, why not government favoritism and allegiance?
Plus, I thought socialism was the government working for the people to increase their standard of living instead of a small minority (Somewhat Sweden, Denmark, Germany), because social goods are going to the majority of people. Anyway, I digress.
Perfect capitalism is not feasible because its not workable in the reality of life.
.
The Cycle of Bullshit happens when we blame things that aren't actually causing our problems.
We point to boogeyman and start sharpening our axes, or, if you live in the 21st century, capitalizing every typed letter in a very heated debate on the many forums accessible through the internet.
We say things like...
ABOLISH THE GOVERNMENT!
...TAXES...BAD!
STOP FEEDING THE HOMELESS!
What many people don't realize is that all these issues are interconnected in some way or another, a manifestation of many, many screw-ups of days gone by, and pandemic within a society like ours.
I'll explain before you can say the words 'evil leftist.'
Yes, government can be bad, as well as business. Yes, taxes are a huge pain in the arse, and the cost amounts to a chunk of your flesh and your soul.
Yes, we are all dead-eyed and disillusioned with our system and talk shit about it when we can (and feel much better for it afterwards), except for those annoyingly happy people who are still able to find optimism even looking at a horrible Breaking News story on the television.
Society is a cycle of bullshit.
Government is just a way to organize society in a legalized, lawful way, so people won't be hurt by what amounts to the schoolyard bullies of big industry we rely on for all our physical and emotional needs. The shiny, impeccable, flawless and fabulously wealthy kids in school who say they can do no wrong. But you and I know better.
Government is there to protect us. At least, it was supposed to be. From overzealous companies, and overzealous politicians, and environments that are so toxic and cut-throat, they create overzealous criminals. We were supposed to have some kind of balance.
Everyone now is able to game the system, and many are getting away with it because of our dysfunctional way of organizing our society.
People complain that government takes far too many taxes from them every year, but they don't ask themselves why.
Why does government take so much money in taxes? Is it really because they're evil? Greedy?
We have to remember that the congressmen and women of the old days didn't get paid nearly as much as they do now. It's PUBLIC office for crying out loud, they shouldn't be multi-millionaires rolling in dough.
I mean, they still have to use our tax dollars to fund social programs that are beneficial and inclusive to everyone in society.
- They have to fund public education, to make sure everyone has the basic skills to survive in the working world, regardless of class.
- They have to fund things like unemployment benefits for those individuals who find themselves in hard times through no fault of their own, like being hurt on the job, unjustly fired, or finding it difficult to find a job in recession or depression.
And many other reasonable, social programs.
If congress members and public officials are rolling around in dough (at least on their personal checks), why is spending on education getting cut left and right in various states?
Why is it that state scholarships or Pell grants still not enough to pay for college education, which equates to the price of a house without the house?
Why are governments selling public utilities to corporations because its cheaper for them not to have to maintain it and they get a kickback from said corporation?
We get most of our sustenance-our survival-our lives-in the form of money.
This is money that someone else gives to us. In return, we work for them. We rely on a boss to give us money to get all the things that are necessary to life. The boss, however, is not responsible for whether or not its enough to sustain ourselves, and frankly, doesn't care at times. Even if you're a skilled worker, there's a chance things can still be pretty tight financially.
We have to remember that education was not always a public option. That at one point in time it was only for the wealthy, because it was expensive and private, you see. Paying taxes for public education is a way to allow everyone, low or middle class to attend school without paying through the noise, because everyone buys into the system for a beneficial result-Educated children. And not just educated so they can do a job, but educated so they can become good citizens, good sisters, brothers, mothers, business people, etc.
Because more industries are employing technology, outsourcing, paying under the table for undocumented workers, cutting back full-time workers to part-time workers, layoffs or not hiring workers at all because its profitable not too, we get a situation where government has to take more and more of your dwindling paycheck just to keep functioning and keep the programs for the social good working. Or, they can just rely on wealthy benefactors.
The tax base is effectively destroyed when politicians have to rely on wealthy benefactors, like corporations and very wealthy patrons, who don't usually reflect the views of the general public and probably don't care much for public roads, public education, a public option of healthcare alongside a costly private one, or other safety nets in general for when someone becomes disabled or maimed on the job. Probably because they're too high up on a cushioned pedestal to really see. In consequence, politicians need the money of these entities to run campaigns, which are very expensive, and didn't come from the majority of voters. They now have allegiance to big, money interests. That's where you get the two-faced game. Telling the public one thing, and telling moneyed interests another just to win the election.
So recap: You don't want a lot of the population to be low-wage or struggling because then government won't have a lot of money for social programs that help people get into the middle class. These social programs create a better society.
When companies don't pay workers enough to pay into a good, non-confusing, reasonable tax system, which taxes should be used for, not for unnecessary wars for example, then these companies have power to sway congress their way.
