Capitalism is Immoral

Thank you for the thoughtful reply Philosurfer. I like the lay out and how concise you kept it. I shall reply in the same manner, for the sake of both the voters and the impending windstorm. I shall reply to three arguments my opponent has set forth in the order he arranged them: 1. Capitalism is not inherently bad 2. Green Capitalism 3. Philanthropy Capitalism is not inherently bad Con quotes Locke, an enlightenment philosopher who would indeed-as con pointed out- influence the birth of capitalist liberal democracy. Locke though lived under feudalism and was drawing up the theoretical scaffolding for a future society. Locke’s ideal “rules”, which Con posits Capitalism today shows strident differences. But Con is right to affirm the principles that Locke outlined in the quoted passage. However the results of Capitalism are the black knight to white bishop when we compare them with Locke’s notions. Lets put this in perspective with another political thinker’s theoretical scaffolding and the society we find today, North Korea. The ideology of North Korea is Juche. The idea was borne in the mind of Kim Il Sung, and the Korean State website puts it as follows: “The Juche idea is based on the philosophical principle that man is the master of everything and decides everything. It is the man-centred world outlook and also a political philosophy to materialize the independence of the popular masses, namely, a philosophy which elucidates the theoretical basis of politics that leads the development of society along the right path.[1]” There is nothing fundamentally immoral with this statement, the immorality of the North Korean system is presently clearly in the actions of the state: leadership of the party has passed one generation to the next, over 200,000 in prison camps, an UN report of disturbing human rights violations[2]. My point is that the morality of system cannot be judged on the ideals of it’s founders. Secondly I challenge Con to provide a historical example of Capitalism devoid of “human greed, consumerism, imperialism, overpopulation, rapid industrialization, and the institutionalization of currency and money-lending.” My “beef” with Capitalism is very much so rooted in the modern capitalist system, the moral repugnance of this model is grounded in the modern realities not theoretical possibilities. I can claim to my girlfriend that I will not cheat on her and that will be the foundation of our relationship. If we both proceed to do cheat, then can our relationship be judged as one of moral strength? Of course not, nor can we judge the moral strength of Capitalism based on the writings of it’s founders. Green Capitalism To quote MIT lecturer Frank Ackerman: "The apparent progress on emission reductions in rich countries has occurred at a time of widespread outsourcing of manufacturing to China and other developing countries. In the process, we have effectively outsourced our carbon emissions as well. If consumers are responsible for the emissions from making the consumer goods they buy, then we have not solved the problem.[3]" The EPA has made these steps to appease the public. They inability to stop the destructive forces of our modern system is staggering. There is another event you ought to add to your timetable: trade with China. China is now the great industrial producer and soon to be the world’s largest economy. In Beijing the air so bad that even a Chinese Government report found the capital “barely suitable” for human life[4]. May I remind the voters that Capitalism is is a system of blatant inequity. Those responsible for producing commodities necessary to our society live in incredible suffering. Philanthropy If Corporate philanthropy was enough then why does the previously cited global inequity deepen? It is true that is all of those with massive accumulation of capital spent it on humanitarian efforts for the poor that our present crisis would be far softened, possibly even solved. This most certainly is not the case, unless Con can introduce data that supports the contrary. I will now turn it over to Con. 1.http://www.korea-dpr.com... 2.http://www.telegraph.co.uk... 3.http://www.huffingtonpost.com... 4.http://www.theguardian.com...