Building a Real Ownership Society

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

Long (44 page) article that I found fascinating

http://www.tcf.org/publications/retirementsecurity/ownershipsociety.pdf


<snip> The privatized ownership society proposed by President Bush reduces social
insurance, exposes each of us to greater personal risk, and removes the
certainties of protection against life ’s worst outcomes. This ownership
vision is that of the frontier days when each person rose or fell individually and at the virtual whim of the marketplace. If smallpox strikes, tough it out.
If you have no job, keep looking. If your family is hungry, try grass soup.
If you are too old to work and have no family, beg. The vision that could
reintroduce us to such levels of risk clearly is not a real ownership society.
It is a risk society, one in which a few win big at the cost of the security and
happiness of us all. The very concept reeks of the incredible inequalities and
risks of the robber baron era.

The other version of an ownership society, the one that has built the
great American middle class, is that of social investment. In this version,
we all pitch in to protect one another against life ’s vagaries, and to pro-
mote meaningful opportunities for each of us through policies and pro-
grams that enable us to build the assets we need for security. Hard work
and personal betterment are still required, but government policies serve
to help make opportunity meaningful and fair, and federal programs pro-
vide guaranteed protections in the face of tragedy or at the dawn of old
age. It is only this latter version of the ownership society that has the
capacity to offer a fair opportunity to all .Its core principles have been
built and put in place over many decades ,and in a concentrated manner,
since the time of the New Deal. The years to come will provide America
with the opportunity to expand the ownership society to everyone, so
that all households can grow the assets that they will need for social
mobility and economic security. <snip>

[cssmall]

1. Hah! That is great.

Want to know the problem though? :evilgrin:

It's communist, at worst, and socialist, at best. That would be spewed from the mouth of anyone that believes, which the majority of the country does believe, in the American Dream (see: opiate of the masses). I read something that sums up conservative and liberal viewpoints beautifully: a conservative preaches, "it takes a family," whereas a liberal preaches, "it takes a village." Now, if we look at a basic analysis of society and I mean any society, a person is a unit within a family, a family within a village, a village within a region. We all share, at least, a similar culture. We could easily, like during the depression, come together and steel each other in times of necessity and in times of prosperity.

Oh yeah, we're capitalists. Remember, even if we grow enough wheat to feed our family for the year and still have a surplus, we gotta sell it. Remember, and I quote, everything you wear, or hear, or see on your TV is a product begging for your fat and dirty dollar.

[Just Me]

2. True patriotism involves investment in the whole.

We're supposed to be human beings, not a diseased consumption far more destructive than the rule of the jungle.

I think those who impose utter self-service are the lowest common denominator of humanity. They make our lives and the world sick. Even as a care-giving progressive, I am prepared to rid such destructive human ills from our people,...all our people.

[cssmall]

3. And, you're right. . .

this type of society would be an exhibit in patriotism and nationalistic pride. That is the *crux* of the argument, no matter how you shake it and it relates back to the idea of family v. village in the rearing of children. Other adults have an active role in the enculturation and socialization of children, not just the parent and even if there were laws prohibiting it, these mentor statuses and roles would still be there and this process would occur. It is the simple biological necessity that humans have to congregate and aid each other.

However, there is a point that needs to be made and a point about those whom you would rid from the face of earth. Captialism is an economic system borne out of the age of Imperialism (even Rome went through this stage at the end of its life). In capitalism, I'm sure you have noticed the inborn scales of power in the world. As Martin Hall writes, in his book Archaeology and the Modern World, that we that have grown in these cultures have a hard time noticing the dominant transcript being used at the time in which history is being made. That being said, we cannot forget this: no matter where captialism has gone, at least historically, the economic system will NEVER run out and those brought up and buying (yes, it is a pun) into the system, must be bred out from the populous that will live in this style government. It is impossible for ardent capitalists to ever reform. (see: Cheney, Dick).