These days, there’s a lot of talk about the failure of capitalism. It’s a “reality” that one can’t escape. Just by buying a newspaper, turning on the TV, browsing the internet, or having an informal chat with anyone, the topic soon arises: how challenging the job and financial world has become. The global financial crisis affects both those who follow politics and those who don’t, but it hits the poorest hardest. Thus, professional commentators conclude that something is wrong with the system. Something stinks in the narrative that claims capitalism is the best economic system known to man because it allegedly offers equal opportunities to everyone who wants to take them.
This claim is valid to a certain extent, in my opinion. It’s true; the world is messed up. Our generation, along with those since World War II, has experienced levels of economic growth and social welfare that are difficult to replicate. The supposed flaws of capitalism have left many victims worldwide. However, it is also true that capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty and misery globally over the last 50 or 60 years, while socialism/communism is responsible for the suffering of many more millions.
In Chile, a certain commander Camila—who enjoys the advantages that only capitalism and democracy provide—has been receiving a lot of attention due to her “outraged” speech, which highlights the “injustices” that young people with limited intellect face in real life when enrolling in universities, burdened with debt and unable to find jobs. According to comrade Camila, a member of the Communist Party, it is “unfair” that a significant percentage of young professionals in Chile must work in roles unrelated to their chosen fields of study. Camila’s fans, by the way, are mostly found on the far-left flank.
In Spain, a youth movement called 15M previously advocated for aims similar to those of the students and communists in Chile: “life is unfair… the political class doesn’t listen to us… we prioritize humanity over the market…” Reading the 15M manifesto is an experience, a complete ode to the foolishness of adolescence, a state that seems to have become permanent in many adults who, as the English say, “ought to know better.”
The Middle East, once a bastion of brutal, repressive, and regressive dictatorships that infringe upon the most basic human, civil, and political rights, is now giving the world a moral lesson. Revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria have set a precedent, shaming many members of the Western establishment and proving that when the people decide to end their humiliation, no dictator or accommodating Western collaborators can resist them.
But we have a problem in the Middle East: what will replace the military, monarchical, or Islamist fundamentalist dictators? And in the West, what is the alternative?
One hears or reads statements from the spokespersons of the movements described above, particularly those who do NOT reside in the Middle East, and perceive a certain weakness towards socialism. The “equality” that the progressives advocate does not exist. It has never existed, and it certainly is not part of the socialist curriculum. It remains, to this day, an unachievable utopia, a pipe dream of Marx and company. So, what are the models? Is it Cuba, where a damn communist dictator has subjected 11 million people to over 50 years of misery? Venezuela, where a degenerate traitor, an admirer of the former, has squandered unimaginable wealth on a populist project that advocates the most abject denial of personal freedoms? Do politicians in Cuba or Venezuela really listen to the people? Do they govern according to the will of the sovereign? Are they more open to being questioned once in power? Spain, where socialists have refused to take the necessary measures to correct the wrong economic direction? Italy, governed by a megalomaniac satyr? Germany, amused as it watches its surplus grow while its surroundings crumble? Or the US, where Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on acceptable levels of debt?
My question then, to the world’s “indignados,” is simple: what do you propose as an alternative? What are your examples, your ideals? Don’t come at me with socialist nonsense, don’t preach “equality” and politically correct and progressive speeches. I don’t want to be the same as anyone else, nor do I want to have the same knickknacks as my neighbor. I want a system of opportunities, not handouts. My success or failure should be the result of my effort, my ability, and not of an obligation I believe doesn’t exist between myself and the state. In short, no system that is created will be better than the intentions of those who implement it. If the powers of the rulers can’t be kept in check, we’ll be just as messed up under socialism as we are under capitalism.
I extend this message to the Venezuelan political class. The red gorilla will not be removed from power by more populist proposals than his, as he literally controls all the money of the Venezuelan state. The coupster from Barinas cannot be defeated with ephemeral units among candidates who will play for their positions in elections under the absolute control of the regime.
The world is seeking a balance between the market, the rule of law, and social well-being. The solution has never lied in one system or the other, but in an honest symbiosis of both. Enough of “savage capitalism,” but also, with equal fervor, enough of charlatans, populists, yellow-tape dictators, traitors, communists, and their apologists, and of outraged Camilas.
Teenagers have no place in running the world.