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It’s a bit of a philosophical conundrum.
A Cooperative Economy
On the one hand, I believe that as people we can, and should struggle to, organize ourselves better. In a post-capitalist kind of way. I believe the earth has blessed us with enough for everyone to live comfortably and sustainably. I believe allowing children starve to death while a privileged few live as kings is unjust. I believe that the advent of modern technology has rendered the competitiveness of capitalism obsolete, and we would be better served by a cooperative economy.
Perhaps instead we can transition to a situation, a society, where our focus is not on profit, but on value.
The Dangers of Utopia
On the other hand, I believe we are put here to learn, to grow, to experience and overcome hardships.
Without sacrifice, can there be love?
If I am a billionaire, and drop a gold coin for a homeless man on the street as I pass by, am I showing him compassion? More so than a hungry man sharing half his meal?
Perhaps we are meant to live in want. Were we to succeed in creating some kind of utopia, would that subvert the very purpose of life?
Other Voices
There is indeed a lot of art I respect that proposes that we cannot organize ourselves better, or perhaps should not. That love and selflessness flows not from the faceless government, but from communities that come together to help each other without being told to.
Brave Saint Saturn sings “real change doesn’t come from a mandate, real love you cannot legislate”.
Barry Schwartz gave a great talk about the problem of trying to replace wisdom with a myriad of rules.
And even Malcom Reynolds, when reflecting on governments who stepped too far into people’s lives, noted it stemmed from the belief that they could “make people better”, a notion he completely rejected.
An Enabling Economy
But I hold that we ought to keep trying.
Doesn’t Reynolds himself, in his own way, make people better? Not by force of course, but by inspiration and opportunity? By providing his crew with what they need to survive and choose their own paths. By standing before a generation shackled by our comfort, and daily choosing to hold to his principles over the certainty of his next meal.
This post-capitalist society is not about a lack of freedom, and not about forcing people to love their neighbors. Rather it is about enabling them to. Creating an economy whose end goal is not to make itself bigger, but to allow us to thrive and grow, to create and learn. It is about bringing us to the next step, to where we can focus on how our work might benefit our society, instead of extracting money from it.
There are so many people now with untapped potential. There are would-be artists, authors, and inventors who are choosing to provide security for their children rather than unleash their passions. I say let us build an economy that supports them, and does not ask them to make that choice. And if we build such a society out of love, I’m sure God will forgive us.