Sheep in the Road

Sheep in the road
Under capitalism key decisions over what is produced,
how much is produced, how it is done and what happens
to it after, are made by a small group of people commonly
referred to as the ruling class. Those excluded from this
elite group, that is, most people, the working class, feel
alienated from the process of provision – like cogs in a
machine. Capitalism, by suggesting that everyone has
their place in the scheme of things and important decisions
should be left to experts, trounces its own promise that
everyone has an equal chance in life, that anyone can
make it to the top. Of course then, if or when you fail
– then its quite obviously your own fault. The point is,
with a variety of inducements, threats and mind games,
capitalism presents its main plank of competition (from
cradle to grave) as a completely natural, useful and healthy
ideal, when, in reality, it is a nurtured instinct based on a
primitive pre-history survivalism which benefits only the few
(the winners), it is wasteful, destructive and … decidedly
unhealthy for anyone living outside the rich nations. And,
insofar as it being natural, I suggest the Earth needs
humans – an evolved social animal with the capability
of controlling its environment, the first ‘intelligent’ species
(probably) to exist on this planet – to develop their more
natural caring instincts of helping, supporting and cooperation.
Flagrantly flying in the face of this base, selfish and
pointless competition promoted by capitalism, truly
inspiring examples of working people helping, supporting
and co-operating with each other abound in abundance.
Because workers produce everything under capitalism,
socialists want workers to plan and control the things they
produce and democratically plan society to meet the needs
of everyone. Socialists want a world that isn’t racked by
war, poverty and oppression. Wonderful ideals, but how to
achieve that situation.
Socialists come in many forms, the goal is roughly the
same but there are disagreements about how to achieve
socialism and ultimately a communist outcome. Valiant
attempts so far have resulted in corrupted economies, the
best and worst being neither capitalist nor socialist but an
unsatisfactory middle-ground. The Labour Party claims a
socialist heritage, originally hoping to bring in socialism
by reforms of parliament, in practice – and although on
occasion making life better for the working class and
denying some of the ruling classes’ excesses – when in
office the Labour Party is only allowed to tinker with the
system. The fact is that a parliament of any hue can only
make policies with the nod from a ruling class of wealthy
businessmen, industrialists and bankers – they really do
hold the power and purse strings in a capitalist society
like ours. Unfortunately for us these ‘powerful’ people
are corrupted by capitalism’s driving force – greed at any
cost – witness the so-called media and banking scandals
of late ... top dog criminals looting with impunity while
playfully accepting knighthoods and nepotistic accolades
... all with complete disregard for the rest of us plebs.
Under capitalism a hard-fought-for element of democracy
is allowed to exist in the development and maintenance
of the state. The state’s role in all of this, with its police
and armed forces, judiciary, its ‘education for work ideals’,
social security and healthcare provision for the masses, is
biased in capitalism’s favour and really is only allowed to
exist to control, maintain and provide a capable, healthy
and pliant workforce. I think the State in any civilised
society should be for a provision to the whole population,
so that all are nurtured, supported and cared for, however
a capitalist state shrinks from this obligation. It fails
miserably by negating its responsibility for those it sees as
lame ducks, leaving it to opportunist ‘charities’ to squabble
over this provision. This creates another negative legacy
for our capitalist society, in that, along with being unable to
provide full employment, it does not provide a means for
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