"Our participation in Capitalism is forced because food, water, clothing, shelter, and healthcare are withheld from those who don't have money."
All those things you mentioned must be produced by the labor of other human beings. If you truly believe that you are being "forced" to buy them, then you must be implying that you believe you are entitled to receive them for free. If it costs resources and labor to produce a good or service, how can you be expected to receive it for free? This is not logically consistent.
If you produce a good/service you are naturally able to sell it, barter it, or give it away for free. That is your choice and prerogative if you are the producer. You cannot expect or force other people to serve you without giving something in return. To do so would be the initiation of force and is the quintessence of slavery. In this case you would be the aggressor. In your pursuit of justice, take care to not become the embodiment of the wicked.
Free Market Capitalism is the voluntary consensual exchange between peaceful individuals. The only reason that both parties would consent to trade is because they both feel they will benefit or profit as a result. Over centuries and millennia this is how wealth is created and standards of livings rise. If you want to see more peace in the world then you must do all that is in your power to celebrate voluntary consensual exchange and condemn coercion and threats of violence. Know your enemy. In so doing we can focus on building a sublime tomorrow that we would be proud to pass down to our progeny.
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My name is Danilo Cuellar. Follow me at Peaceful Anarchism. I also run the Peaceful Anarchism Facebook page and produce many YouTube videos. You can support and donate to my work through Patreon or PayPal. I’m a practitioner of Eastern Healing arts with degrees in Acupuncture and Chinese medicinal herbs, I have always questioned the status quo, a path which led me to peaceful anarchism. Through my journey, I have worn many hats, that of a classical pianist, avid chess player, philosopher, comedian, and now father of two little anarchists. My wife brands me as a Cultural Critic, but I am simply following my thirst for knowledge and passion for writing.
Nice post, its pretty neat how others think " Are We Forced To Participate In Capitalism".
@bola Thank you. Yes it is a perplexing argument to say the least.
Great points, Danilo. I have found that the biggest obstacle to access such goods/services is the govt/state and their burdensome over regulations, permits, licenses, fees, taxes, and, of course, cronyism. They also have a monopoly on many services making it very difficult to compete and in turn have likely helped in the entitlement mentality of those who believe capitalism is the root of all evil and why they can't have nice things. :P
@lisa3vol Indeed! Well said! The Economics of the entire thing is all perverted and distorted. Any institution claiming a monopoly on initiated aggression cannot be deemed as being a net positive to society. It is a predatory parasite and nothing more.
Thank you for your contribution to society. The world is better off with you in it.
@adpt2apocalypse Thank you so much my friend. What a wonderful thing to say. Cheers! :-)
Ah so happy to see that you're on Steemit @danilo-cuellar. Thanks for following my page, and for this post! It is such a common position by communists and socialists that somehow capitalism is forced onto people. I always ask "forced by whom?" The answer is no one.
Spot on! You're also spot on here:
Thank you for all the effort you put into spreading the philosophy of liberty and voluntaryism! Cheers, :) <3
@thepholosopher Thank you so much for your kind words! Cheers! :-)
Well said Danilo! You have a new follower and youtube sub :)
@ausbitbank Wonderful! Thank you for your kind words and your support my friend. Cheers! :-)
All we need to do is stop printing money, stop borrowing money, stop taxing money, and stop the government... Let the free market decide economic policies not a few people behind closed doors.
@jonnyyash indeed! Peaceful people engaging in voluntary consensual trade can accomplish wondrous things! Cheers! :-)
This was great to read! So awesome to see so many other voluntaryists on Steemit! I just followed you and look forward to reading more.
Here's my intro post if you'd like to learn more about me and my move to New Hampshire for the Free State Project. And it talks about my food gardens I built... some in an old pool that I converted. I'm working on a media studio now to help make more videos to share more of these thoughts and ideas with people! Cheers @danilo-cuellar! Thanks for sharing this piece!
Thank you for your support my friend. Awesome intro post! Upvoted! Cheers! :-)
A great polished piece. Thank you for the insight and continued work.
@thebeachedwhale Thank you for your kind words and for your support my friend. :-)
Further, if you don't want to buy food, you can grow it, raise chickens, keep a small garden in an urban space, that kind of thing. Great post.
Indeed! I entirely agree! The options are endless!
I'm not trying to say you can opt all the way out because the more you opt out of capitalism, the harder it gets, you probably still have to pay for land or pay rent, but I am saying if the system disgusts you you don't need to buy an IPhone and a Big Mac.
Further, if we're talking about cancer drugs or consumer goods, the insentive to make those things is money.
If Steemit had as wide a veriety of discussion as reddit, reditters would be using steemit instead, because they'd get paid.
Interesting article, @danilo-cuellar!
We exist to remind all that food, water, clothing, shelter, and healthcare are abundantly available, but Americans have been duped into dependency on a system that charges for them. Many people have "forgotten" how to provide these resources for themselves. We exist to remind people who they are: https://steemit.com/community/@gardenofeden/a-delicious-taste-of-the-abundantly-free-life-in-our-sustainable-community
Very cool post! Thank you for sharing. :-)
i applaud your use of logic and yearn to live in the world that you reason toward here. however, there is no subset of humanity that does not or can not contain psychopaths or sociopaths. do not fear optimism and trust but do not thoughtlessly fling yourself bodily into the midst of thieves.
@lifeworship I do not expect there will ever be a world without thieves, psychopaths, or sociopaths. All that I ask is that people do not provide them with an institution wherein they can enhance their evil with devastating results AKA the State. Sociopaths and psychopaths are harmless if nobody believes they have any legitimate right to rule or exemption from morality.
That's been something I've heard in endless repetition. "But what about the serial killers and rapists and [insert group here]?!" The worst thing that humanity can do is provide a means by which they can act on their desires and sadism: the state.
Bravo friend!
@anarcho-andrei indeed! The State attracts the most vile and corruptible among us.
Nobody owes anybody else extracted or finished resources. These require inputs by others. But, we are all owed access to raw resources for our basic survival. This access to raw resources for self-sustainment is the ultimate litmus test for the presence of exit rights in any system. If we are not free to opt out of any given system and forge our own way from the lands unprocessed resources then we are by omission being forced to submit to a system we dont like and want nothing to do with.
John Locke thought of this an thus formed what has since been coined the Lockean Proviso, which states "whilst individuals have a right to homestead private property from nature by working on it, they can do so only "...at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others"." From Wikipedia.
Where this property rights ethic is adhered to there will always be unclaimed and unprocessed raw resources available to those who wish to exit the system. Where this is denied there is a systemic initiation of force.
A complete load of crap from a moron with no understanding of theory and how the world really works. We are forced into the corrupt structure of society. What of the people who are incapable of producing anything or can only produce a single thing that no one wants? Since they can't coerce anyone to buy it--and indeed EVERYTHING in the capitalist market sells only because we are coerced by the media and advertising to feel untrue needs for things we don't really want--they starve.
Quite an idiotic 'article' that makes no sense and does not have any grounding in reality. Your simplistic logic is simple to shred.
There is no such thing as anarcho capitalism. Capitalism and markets are evil and there is no such thing as a free market, which is the first wrong premise you assert. It's all corrupted by structures like the media.
Grow up.