So...I've had a weird relationship with socialism over the past few years. Mostly still against it, but back around 2018-2019ish I was slightly more open about it mostly. Mainly because I wasn't sure that we would be able to sustain the changes I desire under human centered capitalism under....capitalism. After all, outsourcing is a thing, and who doesn't like the idea of economic democracy.
But here's the thing. My support for socialism has always been fair weathered. And I largely supported socialism assuming it met three main qualifications. First of all, it would have to be reformist rather than revolutionary. A lot of socialists desire a literal revolution to overthrow the government and sieze the means of production. Whereas reformists tend to be more moderate, intending to evolve us into socialism rather than forcing it via a revolution. Second, it would have to be democratic rather than autocratic. The very idea of communism a la the USSR scares the crap out of me and it baffles me some leftists literally seem to support and defend that. No. People should actually be in charge, assuming it exists. And third, it would have to be decentralized vs centralized. Most issues with it seem to have to do with centralization, and the problems of "central planning". Look at Russia's Ukraine logistics, they still largely have the centralized communist system in terms of organizing their military and it causes all sorts of problems. Decentralized, especially via markets, gives more freedom and flexibility and largely compensates for things like shortages and miscalculations better. If one firm fails, another steps up.
This led me to be fair weathered toward a form of decentralized, reformist, democratic market socialism based on worker cooperatives, rather than one based on authoritarian central planning. Essentially, I was trying to avoid the pitfalls of communism in the past. But, as time has gone on, honestly? I don't really CARE about socialism that much. Like all of this talk of democratic socialism is nice, but socialism barely solves anything. it doesn't inherently solve the wage slavery condition. it just reforms work and makes it a little more controlled by the people. And honestly, I'm still left with logistical questions. Like who would start new businesses if all of the rewards/profits are socialized? Human centered capitalism maintains the core rewards/incentives structure of capitalism better to allow for them. Who would be held responsible for malfeasance if the malfeasance was decided upon democratically? What about automation? Won't socialists over time just become capitalists owning stock in a largely automated company? Won't people be leery to hire new people because they would also be shareholders and dilute their power and profits within the company? I mean....this idea of democratic workplaces sounds good, but all in all, within a jobist environment, it really doesn't seem to solve problems very well, and other forms of socialism are just scary. I dont support command economies, etc.
I mean, since my shift away from conservatism, I've always had a leftist rhetorical slant to my politics. But, I still maintained a rather capitalist orientation toward things, understanding literal socialism isn't to be desired. And then as time went on and a movement actually based on my politics took off in the form of the yang gang, the left became hostile to is because "it's not SOCIALISM". Like...to me, socialism has always been, in the best of times, "that's nice, but I dont see this as the big concern". I've been lukewarm on whether I called myself a socialist or not, being somewhat friendly to the concept, but also not being dedicated to it and it not being a central guiding principle to my ideology. And as I spent the past 1.5 years or so actually getting my ideology in order, with clear progression you can see on my blog, I've kind of come out against it.
Like, this isn't really that much of a shift, just rediscovering who I really am post 2020, but honestly, I just ain't warm on it. And while I was more willing to make nice with socialists before 2020ish, well, much like SJWs they've shown themselves to be crappy allies, because the second people start talking about my ideas they get negative and start screaming how it's not socialism. And honestly, given how these same guys seem to be for centralized command economies in UBI's place and seem anti market, I'm just kind of mentally clocked out. They're going places where I cannot follow, and were against the conditions that led me to be open to the idea in the first place.
So watching socialists radicalize into literal tankies and people who instead seem to support state run economies, yeah, no, I can't support that. Market socialism was intended to bolster my own ideas and ideology, it was not intended to replace those core ideas. And because lines in the sand seem to be drawn by socialists themselves, I'll just say I'd rather have capitalism than what they offer. I mean, I'm still not fully against market socialism, but it isn't really an important or central goal of mine either. I'm perfectly fine with social democracy under the principles of indepentarianism, and see it as a better vehicle toward my goals than socialism.
Am I still open to supporting market socialism? Sure, but we're talking the most mild forms of socialism, and honestly, I think social democracy is arguably just as good.
Like, people crap on capitalism, and even social democracy all day. I've seen posts on antiwork recently talking about how social democracy in europe is still full of wage slavery, and while I'd agree (since as I've said before mere reforms to the labor market dont resolve the core issues with the employer-employee relationship), my answer is literally UBI. But for them, it has to be SOOOCCCIIALLLISSSMMMM. Like, slap socialism on everything and it magically solves all ills with everything. There won't be any more housing issues if housing is socialized (despite me discussing how the USSR handled that, and guess what, it wasn't pretty). Oh, and another thing, I was considering writing an article before the whole Ukraine crapshow hit about China, but I looked at China too. You realize they basically have a market socialist system too and charge rent right? And they pay similar portions of their income to rent that we do under capitalism. I mean no system truly SOLVES these problems. But...to a socialist, capitalism is everything wrong with everything, and socialism is always the solution.
Long story short, I don't agree. I mean, would things be better under socialism as socialists think it would? No. Given they seem intent of making a lot of the mistakes of previous and other socialist regimes, it wouldn't be better. It would be worse actually. Governments can't allocate entire economies worth a crap. Maybe they're better for individual industries in a "single payer" capacity like with healthcare, and maybe capable of doing some things well like schools and roads, but as far as other common goods, I'd rather not. I mean, let's face it, for many goods and services, markets give people more freedom. And as far as my anti work goals go, capitalism is better for that too. And here's why.
If you have a capitalist system no one is really forcing you to work. While there is arguably systemic violence forcing people into the labor force, the big problem is most people not owning enough to be self sufficient and live on their own. UBI is an attempt to resolve that issue, and should ideally give people the ability to say no. Other than that, markets still exist. You can choose to participate or not to participate.
But under socialism, a lot of those guys, while they scream about wage slavery, they're not anti work. They would force people to work if they had their ideal system. Which is yet another reason I won't ally with them. If the government runs the economy, and dictates who gets what, they would be the ones forcing people to work directly. And they would very clearly use that power. And communist nations have been very bad toward people who do not work in the past as they believe it is the moral duty of everyone to do so. Because their ideologies are guided under the labor theory of value.
So...for me, capitalism is actually a better system at freeing people from coercion than socialism. Socialism is just at best another form of capitalism, or at worst a direct way to enslave people. Yeah, I don't see it as better. Would pay and stuff be better distributed? In theory yes, but in practice, well, let's face it, on socialist countries rich people live lavishly while the poor are poor. Just like under capitalism. Or worse. You know what states I speak of too. North Korea has this problem. USSR had it. And China? China has billionaires too. I mean...how is socialism better than capitalism?
I feel like most socialists have their heads in the clouds. They don't understand how society works, they dont understand logistics (much like the Russian military), and they just have this fantasy in their head of "this is how things will work" without understanding how things will work.
people scoff at my ideas. At least with me i understand things like incentives and I have social science on my side. Like, seriously, despite my optimistic ideas, I at least try to be realistic and achieve results. I support incrementalist means to reach my goals. I support policies that can be passed in the system we have now. And I understand the range of potential consequences of my policies and how to mitigate them if they happen. These reddit socialists have no freaking clue what they're talking about or advocate for. And I see it all the time.
So...am I for socialism? Well, while I still think a super special form of market socialism could work, all in all, my views are far more capitalist in nature and I do see plus sides to capitalism. I will criticize capitalism a lot when it deserves it, but at least I don't want to fully abolish it. And honestly? Given how socialists are, I'm to the point I see their vision as competition for my own, rather than potential allies working toward the same goals, and given that, I'm going to be more hostile toward it.
That actually sums up a lot of the ideological and tonal shifts. I've been analyzing other left wing factions in more detail over the past year, and I'm beginning to realize that hey, maybe we aren't really allies after all. While I was more willing to work with various forms of leftists and SJWs over the years, as they've shown themselves to be at odds with me, so have I grown to be at odds with them. Honestly, I'm really finding out what I am, and what I am not at my core. And at the end of the day, I'm just not a die hard socialist. I'm a human centered capitalist or indepentarian who could compromise with certain forms of market socialists to achieve mutually beneficial goals. Socialism is not a goal of mine, Im highly skeptical, if not outright hostile to most forms of it, and only find some of the most moderate forms palatable at all. And even then, I only support them insofar as they can further my own goals toward a UBI. If they become anti UBI, or anti markets, or anti-antiwork, I'm just done with them. We want different things. have a nice life. I don't really desire socialism and I'm largely happy with capitalism as a concept. Just not the iteration of capitalism that we live in.
No comments:
Post a Comment