from one of my favorite blogs:
Capitalists often cite individual freedom as a positive attribute of their system. Why is it that a system that produces mindless and bland conformity (as we all know from our experience of life) gets to pose as the champion of the individual?
It’s down to some basic fallacies. The capitalist says “you can go out and be whatever you want, do whatever you want, follow your dreams, work hard to achieve them!” etc. What they actually mean, however, is that you can go out and earn money however you want. Of course, we all do want money, because under capitalism, we’ll starve without it. So this supposed ideology of the individual begins with everyone wanting exactly the same thing.
This ‘freedom of the individual’ then boils down to choosing between the jobs available to that individual, or starting their own business, or starving. Hardly anyone is lucky enough to have a job that no one else does. That choice generally leads to conformity, doing exactly the same thing as many other people, every day, in the same place, with the daily humiliation of having to pretend that this is what you actually wanted.
Some ‘lucky’ workers will be able to follow a ‘career path’ in which this mapped out, preordained, conformist work lasts continuously until they are old, with the financial remuneration slowly but steadily increasing over the decades.
Or, you can start your own business, and ‘compete’ in the marketplace. This is the capitalists favourite choice, the one that really seems to sell the ‘individual freedom’ line. The problem is that competition implies conformity. You can only ‘win’ if you are all playing the same game. There’s a tiny amount of people who have had a genuinely unique business idea, but the rest are all doing exactly the same thing as their competitors, but they are trying to do it slightly better, or cheaper, or faster.
Despite the capitalist rhetoric of ‘risk taking’ that option is really only available to the rich, for whom it’s not a real risk at all. The small businessman, given a choice between conforming to market norms and the possibility of homelessness, almost always chooses conformity. So, that’s a dead end for individualism too.
None of the choices that capitalism offers the individual avoid conformity. For all their lies about freedom and liberty and individualism they produce a robotic and lifeless society, which in Emma Goldman’s words;“condemns millions of people to be mere nonentities, living corpses without originality or power of initiative”
Capitalism is the ideology of the uniform, the time card, the name tag and the stop clock. It’s the ideology of boredom. It is standardised, predictable and dull. It is the enemy of creativity, free expression and self determination. For all its bullshit about liberty, capitalism is the mortal enemy of individual freedom.
(Source: class-struggle-anarchism)
14th December 2011
Reblogged From anticapitalist
Notes: 225
Ron Paul supporters need to register/change to the Republican party. I am NOT a Republican, I am a Libertarian and Ron Paul is the only candidate that I (and many others) seriously think has a chance to take on Obama. He wants to legalize drugs, gay marriage, minimize Federal government power, increase states rights, end the Fed, and end the War. About the states rights, remember that is it easier to influence governors and mayors than presidents and vice presidents. If you want serious change, vote Ron Paul.
Guys please reblog this! It’s incredibly important.
Actually… Ron Paul doesn’t support Gay Marriage. Check your facts.
He’s also a racist. And he wants to “legalize” drugs (all drugs) for the sake of “liberty,” not because our drug war is costly, harmful to minorities (and other countries and our economy), and to keep people out of jail needlessly.
ALso, when are we going to realize that the President doesn’t write law, Congress does.
No, it’s true that the president doesn’t write law but by your logic, we shouldn’t vote for president at all. Also, he has said many times before (look it up on Youtube) that people should marry whomever they please and that government should not dictate who somebody should marry. Personal liberty is a great reason to legalize drugs and he has also said several times that it will be hugely beneficial to our economy and get people out of jail who don’t deserve to be in jail. Have you even listened to a Ron Paul interview?
How in the world did I say we shouldn’t vote for President? It’s a pretty damn important position, but we also need to temper our expectations and see that they won’t magically do everything they promised just because they were elected. It takes congress actually getting something done for the President to factor into law making.
Let’s just let these quotes speak for themselves: “Government is totally unnecessary for gay marriage laws.” (May 2011); “No need for Marriage Amendment; DOMA is enough.” (Sep 2007)
Yeah, I actually have, and the entire time I wanted to vomit. He has a one sentaence economic policy: “Blame the Fed.” It makes me wonder if he actually knows what the Fed is/does.
It’s funny that he said that he supports a lot of things, but his voting record says the exact opposite.
Let’s list a few OTHER things Ron Paul is for/against, se we can fairly judge him as a candidate:
- Completely anti-choice. Says abortion in all cases is wrong and that is is murder. “(Human) Life begins at contraception.”
- Amendment’s Mr. Paul is against: 16th,
- Pro-Gold Standard (because that worked out sooooo well last time)
- Pro-DOMA
- Voted YES on banning gay adoptions in DC. (Jul 1999)
- Has a 38% rating by the Human Rights Campaign
- Voted NO on letting shareholders vote on executive compensation. (Jul 2009)
- Voted NO on enforcing against anti-gay hate crimes. (Apr 2009)
- Voted NO on $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges. (Mar 2006)
- Voted YES on barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. (Apr 2011)
- Voted NO on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution. (Jun 2009)
- Voted NO on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jan 2007)(Contrary to what he has said on wanting to end such subsidies, so he is a confirmed liar, LIKE EVERY OTHER POLITICAN)
- Rated 0% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)
- Signed the No Climate Tax Pledge by AFP. (Nov 2010)
- No EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. (Jan 2011) (We like to call that a contradiction.)
- Supported tax incentives for US-based alternatives. (Sep 2010), BUT he has voted against Tax insentives everytime. (So, he’s a hypocrite)
I must say that Ron Paul is the one of the least crazy GOP candidiates right now, but let’s not pretend he is something he isn’t. Also, I’m not saying Obama, or any other Democrat, isn’t a hypocrite, or a liar (or what ever.) All politicans lie, but actions speak louder than rhetoric.
Not to pile on, but it’s not true you must be registered in a certain party to vote in a primary. It’s only true in some states. Check your local laws and regulations.
