We cannot accept capitalism’s conception of economic relations as “free and private,” because contracts are not made among economic equals and because they give rise to social structures which undemocratically confer power upon some over others. Such relationships are undemocratic in that the citizens involved have not freely deliberated upon the structure of those institutions and how social roles should be distributed within them (e.g., the relationship between capital and labor in the workplace or men and women in child rearing). We do not imagine that all institutional relations would wither away under socialism, but we do believe that the basic contours of society must be democratically constructed by the free deliberation of its members.
Freedom without responsibility or equity is a rampage.
Our people are only free in the sense that our most successful sociopaths are free to take everything their fellow citizens labor for without giving back anything, and everyone else is free to die in the gutter.
Societies have social contracts backed by law, we forgot and deregulated ours half a century ago, and even then it was lacking.
What society would want an economy that makes it untenable for most humans to raise a family on a single earner’s income so a partner can raise kids? That was stolen for the owners profit. Such a society plainly does not prioritize having any future.
The shape of any society’s economy tells you everything you need to know about that society’s priorities. Ours says “everyone for themselves. You’re either in the boat made of bodies, or feel free to drown, loser.” Gotta love how enthusiastic our economists are about the system needing to have legions of “losers” as if their very lives are a fucking game.
We cannot accept capitalism’s conception of economic relations as “free and private,” because contracts are not made among economic equals and because they give rise to social structures which undemocratically confer power upon some over others. Such relationships are undemocratic in that the citizens involved have not freely deliberated upon the structure of those institutions and how social roles should be distributed within them (e.g., the relationship between capital and labor in the workplace or men and women in child rearing). We do not imagine that all institutional relations would wither away under socialism, but we do believe that the basic contours of society must be democratically constructed by the free deliberation of its members.
Exactly.
Freedom without responsibility or equity is a rampage.
Our people are only free in the sense that our most successful sociopaths are free to take everything their fellow citizens labor for without giving back anything, and everyone else is free to die in the gutter.
Societies have social contracts backed by law, we forgot and deregulated ours half a century ago, and even then it was lacking.
What society would want an economy that makes it untenable for most humans to raise a family on a single earner’s income so a partner can raise kids? That was stolen for the owners profit. Such a society plainly does not prioritize having any future.
The shape of any society’s economy tells you everything you need to know about that society’s priorities. Ours says “everyone for themselves. You’re either in the boat made of bodies, or feel free to drown, loser.” Gotta love how enthusiastic our economists are about the system needing to have legions of “losers” as if their very lives are a fucking game.
Here’s the full article if you’re interested:
https://www.dsausa.org/strategy/toward_freedom/