Is Capitalism Just: Contributionist or Socialist? A Contributionist's Viewpoint

There is no definitive answer to whether capitalism is just or not. This philosophical question has been tackled for many years by many people. The only answer to this question is based on the opinion held within each and every one of us. What is known is that this is a complex issue which stirs up strong emotions from both the Contributionist and the Socialist points of view. This document shares the opinions held by many Contributionists and tries to validate the Contributionist's viewpoint that capitalism is just. We are only going to present some of the main points as to why we feel capitalism is just.

What is Capitalism?

To help us justify that capitalism is just it is imperative that we define our understanding of what capitalism is.

Capitalism is the only social-economic system based around individual rights where property, the means of production and the products produced are privately owned, free of government controls and regulations (WiseGeek, 2003). The government's role is to protect the rights of the individual. In a capitalistic society individuals are free to determine their own destiny whether it be financial or emotional. With that said any individual is also free to not pursue their destiny. In a capitalistic society an individual is considered competent and is required to use their intellect to determine their destiny.

We can actually get the idea of capitalism from the words of Ayn Rand's character John Galt, in her novel Atlas Shrugged (1957):

"I swear by my life and by my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." (SparkNotes, 2009).

Why Capitalism is Popular

In a capitalist society, there are several reasons why capitalism is popular. An individual's economic self interests benefit other people's economic self interests (Project21, 1996). Every individual is allowed to produce wealth that is not regulated by government policies. Every individual has the right to efficiently create wealth, an equal opportunity for economic gain and access to a variety of products with no limits or restrict by the government.

An individual who creates wealth for themselves also generates income opportunities for everyone within society. For instance a Food Processing plant buys the food product it needs to produce its product from a farmer. The farmer benefits by receiving money from the processing plant for the product he has grown on his farm. The Food Processing plant uses its product to satisfy the needs of others. The employees are provided a wage that they use to purchase goods that satisfy their needs. As one can see, the Food Processing plant provides many economic benefits to those involved in its economic circle.

Income opportunities are available to everyone in a capitalist society as the right to the opportunity to succeed and gain additional wealth. It is ones choice to decide how they produce and generate wealth. People should compete and this competition leads to a higher quality of goods while the quality of products and the production of products increases the standard of living. People are able to meet their basic needs and increase the standard living that are not totally regulated by the government.

Capitalism provides a growing supply of products for everyone within society. When the government does not regulate the amount of products, this allows the consumer to have the opportunity to determine the supply and demand of products available on the market. An example of this is when a bakery produces a particular amount of bread cake and pies it is determined by the people rather than being dictated by government policy on the amount of a particular product that can be sold on the market.

Capitalism allows the individual a choice in which they can produce the amount of wealth, opportunity, standard of living that meets their needs without interference by the government.

The ideology of Capitalism

The ideology of capitalism is that individuals are capable of handling reality and acting accordingly in regard to it and that it is morally correct to strive for your own happiness. Unlike other ideologies, capitalism does not restrict individuals in any aspects of their lives.

As mentioned before, people are considered competent, able to grasp reality and to act accordingly. If an individual sees that society has a need for something, he is assumed to be capable and free to act in regard to that need. No higher power is allowed to command the individual and attempt to direct society's evolution. Most of mankind's great achievements came from individuals; it didn't happen because some bureaucracy told them to do so. It happened because of their ability to strive for something they believed in. If people are told what to do, they will lose motivation and their freedom to act or not act.

It is our moral right to strive for our own happiness. If an individual thinks that making a lot of money and trying to become rich will make him happy, that individual has the right to do so. On the other hand, if that individual feels that not working and living his life from charity will make him feel good, that individual has that same right. No higher power commands what the role of a single individual is in society.

To this end the initial use of force, whether it is applied by a person or a government that infringes upon the individual rights of freedom is illegal in a capitalistic society (Le Quebecois Libre, 2007).

The Role of Government in a Capitalist Society

The roles of government in a capitalistic society are simplistic and practical. There are no grey areas in a government's role. The only purpose of government would be to protect its citizens from force or fraud (famguardian, 2006). The force against citizens of a capitalistic society can come from either internal or external aggressors. The government's job is the protection of individual rights against such forces by using an army -- to protect against foreign invaders, and a police force -- to protect against domestic criminals (Capitalism, 2004). In regards to fraud, a government establishes a court system to enforce contracts and settle disputes between citizens (famguardian, 2006). Furthermore, in a capitalistic society, a violation of rights can only occur by initiating force, so a government can only retaliate against those who initiated the force. A good example of this is America's retaliation against Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There was evidence that the foreign aggressors in this act of force were trained and based in Afghanistan and were supported by the government

Hence the swift retaliation by the Americans against this country.

The Only Threat to Freedom Is Man

The definition of freedom is the state of being free exempt from the control of another (Everything2, 2001). Everyone is born free and has their own rights and freedom, however, an individual will lose their freedom when another individual tries to control them. But only a person or a group of people can use force against an individual and thus infringe upon an individual's freedom. Even though individuals are free to act in any manner, their actions cannot violate the freedoms of others. In capitalism, the government is limited to protecting individual rights and it is not allowed to violate its citizen's individual rights. In contrast, the socialist government completely takes everything from its citizens. This means that the socialist government completely controls and violates their individual rights.

In a capitalist society, an individual's rights and freedoms are an absolute and therefore it is an absolute that capitalism is freedom.

Capitalism and Democracy Can Never Co-exist

Pure democracy and capitalism cannot co-exist together. In an absolute democracy, capitalism cannot exist. The term democracy is the freedom to vote. Democracy refers to a form of government in which the majority rules. There are no limits placed on the issues which fall under the voter's control, if the majority wishes something done, regardless of who is sacrificed along the way; individual rights could be voted away.

A capitalist system is a system of checks and balances so ordered to protect the rights of the individual from criminals. The majority are from the democratically elected voices who claim to speak for 'the public good'. Under capitalism no individual, whether they be a minority or a majority, can violate the inalienable rights of any minorities. Thus, individual rights cannot be subjected to a vote, and are protected from its own citizens and government.

Since democracy offers no legal protection to individuals or minorities, a system known as a constitutionally limited democracy is required. In such a system, the government's role is clearly defined and delimited by a written constitution---the supreme legal document of a proper society. The role of the government is restricted to deciding who holds power and how this power is implemented by deciding the size of the military, police and judiciary.

As voting is used to decide who fills certain positions in the government, the power of those positions is restricted by the written law, which protects every individual---regardless of anyone's vote to the contrary. The right to vote is important, but no vote can override any individual's rights. In a free society each and every man lives under a rule of law, all laws have only one purpose; to protect the rights of the smallest minority that has ever existed---the individual. Hence, capitalism, in this sense, only supports a limited democracy with a constitution based upon individual rights and not a pure democracy where the majority rules.

The essential point is this, is it just for any man to rape, rob, and/or murder another? Capitalism says "Never!" Democracy says "sometimes---if the majority wills it."

For or Against Individual Rights

There are two main political philosophies, FOR and AGAINST freedom and the rights of the individual (The Atlas Society, 1990). Your individual rights can be violated in a number of different ways, but only in capitalism are individual rights absolute. In a capitalist environment you have individual rights while outside of capitalism you do not.

The opposite of capitalism is 'statism'. Statism is based on the government, or state, controlling everything. Everything is state-run, state-owned and state-controlled. The definition of statism is thus: - the principle or policy of concentrating extensive economic, political and related controls in the state at the cost of individual liberty (dictionary.com, 2009). Which means the state controls things and the citizen within that state does not. This would seem to contrast the common view and desire of freedom. The only political system that protects the freedom and rights of the individual is capitalism, the only fair and just system for the individual. One of the main elements of capitalism is the right of the individual to own property or land, the right to make a profit in his business, the right to decide the price at which you sell your products and services and the right to choose.

A political system that is against freedom and the rights of the individual initiates a controlling and suppressing force against its citizens, violating individual rights. Political systems that infringe upon these rights and freedoms include: the welfare state, where the welfare of the people is the responsibility of the government; fascism, where the ruler of the state tells that people what to do and any opposition to him is quashed; socialism, where ownership of property is in the community; communism, where property is state-owned; dictatorships, where the citizens are told what to do; Nazism- Nazi style rule; and theocracies - the type of government in which the ruler is a religious figure for example God, or the Head of the Church.

Socialism Is Not Just

Socialism is an economic system controlled by the government where compensation and resources for all individuals are divided in theory based on an egalitarian method. Socialists believe in the greater good of mankind. One should sacrifice himself for the benefit of others. This belief is an idealistic point of view on how the world should be, but there are still a lot of problems with the Socialist theory.

Socialism is not a concrete philosophy. Within the socialist movement there are different sub-movements and conflicts. These different movements exist because there are certain problems with the theory of socialism. Socialists believe that capitalism creates an unequal balance of power and wealth. To equalize wealth, the socialists like to have an egalitarian method of compensation.

If the government were to equalize wealth, then they would have to state the value of every product and service. Socialism cannot work simply because of the fact that the government would not be able to be a specialist in every field of the market. In capitalism all prices are regulated by the individuals themselves. The people themselves are the only ones that are able to regulate all prices.

In a socialist country the amount of bureaucracy needed to regulate all prices would be impossible to achieve. The more rules necessary to regulate prices, the more expensive products will be. In capitalism this would be countered by another company who would sell the products at a lower price. This stimulates companies to be more efficient. But in Socialism all companies would have to sell at the same price. Many people complain that in capitalism there could be monopolies but in a socialist country the biggest monopoly would be in hands of the government.

Social Political Justice - Is capitalism a just social system?

Equality is one of the basic pillars of justice and the foundation of our society. Shielded by the law, any individual is treated the same way and therefore has the right to keep what he has earned. According to this "what you produce is what you get" -credo a third party has no just right to claim your property. In this capitalistic environment people are perfectly independent, and any other state or model of government has not yet proven to be more socially just.

The antagonists of capitalism often come up with with examples, where economic inequality is illustrated. Why does a doctor earn less than a sports celebrity? How can this be just? Those assumptions might be traceable because of ethical reasons, but it is certainly just in a capitalistic society, where people deserve to get the proportional revenue of their efforts. On fight night in Las Vegas for example, a boxer attracts a huge crowd, that spends its money on hotels, food, transportation, merchandising, and T.V. channels broadcasting the fight to many households. By entering the ring, this celebrity is triggering many economical consequences, which can be titled as profits for the society. This effort is more highly rated than the "output" of a doctor's work, even though it is not less important. Since a capitalistic engine is run by the principle of effiency, the doctor cannot expect the same gratification as the celebrity. Any interference or re-allocation by the government would not be just.

A final word, you can summarize the whole topic in one quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American philosopher:

"Doing well is the result of doing good. That's what capitalism is all about."

In summary, is capitalism just? It is absolutely just. It is the only system of fairness for the individual. It gives choices and opportunities for all. It encourages free enterprize and benefits all those within it. It is the only system that protects individual rights. It is capitalism.

References

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http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/contemp/pamsetc/twosouls/twosouls.htm