Human Rights and Capitalism: A Philosophical Explanation

Warning: This entry is based on philosophy and opinion. Take these thoughts as you will and feel free to make any arguments against them, as they are not based on absolute facts.

Tonight, I was trying to Google capitalist nations and came upon this neat little tour. It starts from the very core of where Capitalism comes from and continues until applied to modern day. If you don’t feel like reading, here’s a lengthy summary:

1. Reality is Absolute. Regardless of our ideas, desires, and feelings, things are real because they physically exist. You can’t point at an empty space and say, “I think there’s an elephant there,” and then an elephant appears and you name him Fred. In other, more eloquent words, “A is A. To be, is to be something: finite, limited, and non-contradictory.” – Aristotle. He was said to have been quite intelligent.

2. Reason is man’s means of survival. Not being a moron is pretty essential to surviving. You don’t have to be a moron to die, obviously, because uncontrollable circumstances can cause death such as natural causes or the actions of another individual. However, to even have a chance at living we have to be somewhat reasonable. Without reason, we act before thinking which can often lead to unanticipated (and sometimes funny) death. Hence the reason we have Darwin awards.

3. The individual is sovereign. We all have free will. In order to use that free will in the best way possible (aka living), we make choices. Our thoughts determine who we are, how we feel, what we do. Therefore, we are the kings and queens of our own future. It’s up to us where we go and how we end up… A rich, successful CEO? Or that weird, smelly guy in the neighborhood who calls everyone Ishmael?

4. Man is an end in himself, and not a slave to the ends of “society.” Basically what this means is that each individual person abides by their own mind and not the minds of society as a whole. The judgments of others should bare no restrictions on your freedom of being. Man can live among society and prosper from relationships, but he must maintain his individualism. Rather than become a ‘slave’ for another person’s sake, he must live for himself based on his own judgment of truth.

5. To live in society man needs rights. But what is a ‘right’? Lately everyone’s been claiming their supposed rights, from free health care to free education to free scuba diving lessons from a dolphin. The right we are talking about here is the freedom to act absolutely without asking for anyone’s permission. My personal favorite is the right to life. From that comes the right to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. You don’t have to fill out an application for these rights. You don’t need a background check, tuberculosis test, a  credit score, liquid assets, or written consent from the government to live the best life you can as freely and happily as possible. That doesn’t mean you should run naked through an elementary school, but it does mean you have the right to live honestly, without fear, and without traumatizing children.

6. Rights are moral principles. Rights are inalienable – they may not be morally infringed upon. But rights do not guarantee that shitty things won’t happen to you. They only guarantee you have the freedom of thought and action and the right to the results of those actions. Like when you buy a house, that action is your right. You chose to complete that purchase. Therefore, you have the right to live in that home and keep mangy neighbor cats from pissing on your lawn.

7. The initiation of physical force renders a man’s mind useless. This is where we get into the really deep stuff. When physical danger is threatening a person’s life, the mind becomes clouded with fear. The text on the site says: “Only by the initiation of force against a man can stop his mind, thus rendering it useless as a means of survival.” See, this is why we have guns. And that’s not even a joke. We have the right to protect our own lives, and guns are a great way to keep people from killing you. Now, if I were to be the one to point the gun at someone who has imposed no threat to me, that is when I have violated a person’s rights and I have officially lost my own. That’s when they would be justified to shoot me in the chest. And why not? I had it coming. Thus the use of force is not evil unless the force is initiated upon an innocent person. In the name of protection and retaliation, it is just. “A moral man has nothing to gain when a man tries to kill him, but he has much to lose if he does not defend himself.”

8. Government’s job is to protect rights. If everyone were allowed to just shoot each other for no good reason and get away with it, it would probably happen more than we’d prefer it to. That’s where government becomes important. It’s intended purpose was to enforce laws that protected the basic human rights mentioned earlier: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And, you know, throwing stuff at pissing cats on your lawn. The government punishes the bad and rewards the good. A truly brilliant concept. Wonder what ever happened to it.

9. Government has a monopoly on the use of physical force. That sentence sounded wrong to me at first, like the government has some kind of global conglomerate where they hurt people for profit. But no, that’s not what it means. It means the government is a legal power that uses physical force according to “objectively defined laws.” Their power is never to be used to initiate force, only to retaliate it.

10. The powers of the state shall never be used to initiate force. This one’s kind of redundant coming after that last one, but yeah. Again, we don’t initiate force upon others unless threatened. Even if it is claimed to be for the “public good.”  The government should thus have just three purposes: protecting against foreign invaders, police force, and a court system. Thwart the bad guys, catch them, and prosecute them to settle disputes and ensure that justice is served.

11. A rule not of men, but a rule of objective laws. We live in a free society, but there certainly are laws. Laws that were created to protect our lives and our freedom. The rule of law has one purpose: to protect the rights of the smallest minority that has ever existed – the individual. Thus the basis of our age-old theory of innocent until proven guilty. If it were the other way around- guilty until proven innocent- imagine the number of unjust punishments that would be made upon good people. Ultimately, punishing the evil comes second to rewarding the good.

The end of the tour concludes with a nice summary of a capitalist society and what it stands for. I challenge anyone to argue that it isn’t the most valid and just way of life. And not just that, but it is realistic.

Imagine.

- A society of good will and benevolence. Instead of waiting for my neighbor Harry to yell at me for driving several inches on his side of our shared driveway, I could chill with him on his patio and learn a thing or two about the right to private property.

- A society where each man is prepared to judge and be judged — not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. That sounds familiar. And it’s true. I mean, people look down on me because I’m really pale, but that isn’t really fair. If they truly got to know me they would learn that I wanted to get out in the sun this summer, but I have a job where I work indoors all day. Good grief.

- A society where each man can worship his own god, in his own way — even if that god is the greatest of all gods: “I”. The idea of a higher power is something that cannot be proven scientifically. You could try to prove it with reason and logic, but ultimately it is a concept based on faith and the records of old documents. Sure, no problem. But every individual should be free to worship whatever power they believe in, regardless of who disagrees with them, as there is no absolute way to prove or disprove the existence of a God. If there were, we wouldn’t all be bickering about it all the time.

- A society of free-thinking and free-acting individuals. Think for yourself, act for yourself, and deal with the results whether good or bad. You are responsible for your own life. Whatever shitty decision you make, the consequences are all on you and you are not “entitled” to anything because of it. Just think more before you act next time.

- A society where each man is free to pursue his own happiness, wherever it may take him. Isn’t that a nice thought? You can be as happy as you want to. It’s all on you and nobody is holding you back. And when you get to where you want, you are praised and congratulated for your success. Nobody will glare at you and deem you as “greedy” because you sought a prosperous life and achieved it. I don’t understand why some people will not embrace the concept of success=good.

- A society where one man’s gain is never at someone else’ sacrifice, but at best is to the mutual benefit of both. Socialists like to think that common good is achieved when one group makes a sacrifice to help everyone as a whole. How that is considered “common good” is beyond me, since a significant number of people are still getting screwed over. Giving and taking (aka trade) in order to gratify the needs of both parties? That sounds more like true common good to me.

- A society where being an “individual” is not some superficial trait. Remember when being an individual meant having your own thoughts, values, experiences, theories, etc? Now it’s what store you bought a shirt from, how you take your coffee, and what extreme food product you consume. Stupid shit like that doesn’t say anything about what’s really important – what’s going on in your mind. Your values and your dreams are what actually matter. That just sounded really lame, but it’s true.

- A society where the evil is not rewarded, but punished, and the good is admired, and praised. Remember how good people are, you know, good? Well, we sure want them to stay good, don’t we? Would you rather be surrounded by good people or a bunch of assholes? And not the fun kind of assholes who crush beer cans on their heads. The kinds of assholes who impede on your pursuit of a happy life. The people that harm your liberties and infringe upon your rights.

- A society where a life of imaginable riches and wealth, is a possibility — for everyone who is willing to think. Hmm, thinking. Nah, too much work. Now if you’ll excuse me, there is a rich person over there I must throw vegetables at. Then I’m going to make him give me some of his money because I’m entitled to it and stuff.

I know I’m really shoving Capitalism in your faces, but just look at the principles that helped develop it. Look at them and come up with a better way to live as a society. Of course, there are simply no systems that will be perfect. They all have their flaws, and there will always be assholes who try and screw it up. But to me, this one seems to be the smartest, most realistic, and most just with the least possibility for disaster.

References

The Capitalism Tour

P.S. Every once in a while I’ll write up an entry like this. An entry based on philosophy and not necessarily truth. Truth is the major theme of this blog, but I wholeheartedly welcome any thoughts and opinions anyone has, as long as they are prepared to back it up.