Thread: The Morality of Capitalism

Originally Posted by Ausinus

Both capitalism and socialism in their purist forms are flawed; they both ignore a person's potential to be corrupted by power. They need to be tempered with each other in order to make a prosperous and developed nation.

Tempered. I was trying to think of that word for my post, but had to go with "softened".

Originally Posted by AhabtheArab

Capitalism has no morals


this is what the U.S. military did in the early 1900s to thousands of filipino muslims in a village in mindanao; every man, woman and child were killed for the natural resources. The U.S. marines and navy called them monkeys and island ******s.

Sergeant Howard McFarland, a soldier stationed in the Philippines during the war, wrote to the Fairfield Journal of Maine that,

"this is a very rich country; and we want it. My way of getting it would be to put a regiment into a skirmish line, and blow every ****** into a ****** heaven. On Thursday, March 29, eighteen of my company killed seventy-five ****** bolomen and ten of the ****** gunners.... When we find one that is not dead, we have bayonets."

The U.S. is great because of its advanced killing capabilities.

And this is related to some aspect of capitalism how? Could stealing someone's natural resources not be carried out by a socialist, or communists, or dictator?


Maybe you are trying to say that the US is not great because of capitalism but only because of it's armed forces.

Would it not be the capitalism that allowed the armed forces to become more powerful than the armed forces of other countries?

When the US entered world war II it ramped up it's army very quickly as a result of it's ability to use it's wealth.

Whatever. I don't believe in living in a stark darwinian world. That just doesn't sound pleasant.

The world will always be Darwinian.

Always.

Always, always, always, always.

The fittest always survive.

And this is related to some aspect of capitalism how? Could stealing someone's natural resources not be carried out by a socialist, or communists, or dictator?

It could ONLY be carried out by a Socialist.

Originally Posted by Feslin

The world will always be Darwinian.

Always.

Always, always, always, always.

The fittest always survive.

And in a compassionate world, so do the weak survive...because the stong take care of them. That's called a SOCIETY. We should only be darwinian in our basic biology, not in our culture.

Originally Posted by Feslin

The world will always be Darwinian.

Always.

Always, always, always, always.

The fittest always survive.

In the natural world yes, but any civilisation which does not attempt to do this is less than a society.

It could ONLY be carried out by a Socialist.

Oh, scary. Maybe socialists are responsible for the Kobe earthquake too?

Originally Posted by Shadowman

Whatever. I don't believe in living in a stark darwinian world. That just doesn't sound pleasant.

The US has a mixed economy (part capitalism and part socialism). Ever if we moved as close to pure capitalism as we have ever been, (back when George Washington was still President) we would still not be marked by darwinianism (survival of the fittest).

We always have had a police force which is responsible for maintaining justice.

Originally Posted by lakeman

The US has a mixed economy (part capitalism and part socialism). Ever if we moved as close to pure capitalism as we have ever been, (back when George Washington was still President) we would still not be marked by darwinianism (survival of the fittest).

We always have had a police force which is responsible for maintaining justice.

Fittest means richest in this case.

And in a compassionate world, so do the weak survive...because the stong take care of them. That's called a SOCIETY. We should only be darwinian in our basic biology, not in our culture.

Culture will always be Darwinian.

Always, always, always, always, always, always.

Although, I think the weak should be free from their chains.

In the natural world yes, but any civilisation which does not attempt to do this is less than a society.

How is it less than a society? Define "society".

Oh, scary. Maybe socialists are responsible for the Kobe earthquake too?

I don't see what that has to do with the discussion.

Originally Posted by Feslin

Culture will always be Darwinian.

Always, always, always, always, always, always.

Although, I think the weak should be free from their chains.

And be put into the chains of libertarianism. Very good.

How is it less than a society? Define "society".

Perhaps a better word would be less than a civilisation.

Originally Posted by Ausinus

Both capitalism and socialism in their purist forms are flawed; they both ignore a person's potential to be corrupted by power. They need to be tempered with each other in order to make a prosperous and developed nation.

The constitutional government set up by our founding fathers was the best plan for tempering man's potential for corruption. The checks and balances are not necessarily part of capitalism but they are a part of our capitalism.