A Capitalist Manifesto

A Capitalist Manifesto

Those with money, buy things; those without money do not buy things. That is how a capitalist views the divide between haves and have-nots. Alternative views are possible. Those with money eat while those without money eat little. Those with money have medical care; those without get little medical care. Those with money get an education and jobs, while those without get little education and find minimal wage jobs and temporary employment.

But that is not the real story. It is not an arbitrary divide between haves and have-nots. The new capitalist manifesto is more nuanced. Those with money buy things. Those with lots of money buy expensive things. Those will little money buy essentials, while those without money buy nothing. The new capitalist manifesto is aimed at marketing. If you want to make big money, sell to those with lots of money and sell expensive things, such as expensive homes and cars, major real estate properties, and so on. Don’t try to sell to those with little or no money. The profit margins are not favorable. Buy low and sell high is being replaced by buy a lot and sell a lot higher to those who can afford to pay, regardless of where they live or where they are from.

T. S. Eliot had it right in “Chrouses From The Rock:”

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

…

All men are ready to invest their money
But most expect dividends.

…

The desert is not remote in southern tropics
The desert is not only around the corner,
The desert is squeezed in the tube-train next to you,
The desert is in the heart of your brother.

My brother, Dr. Daniel Earl Spector, died a week ago. He understood those words of T. S. Eliot. Danny was a scholar. A staunch defender of members of the armed forces even though he was a principled pacifist, opposed to most wars. He was a Middle East scholar who befriended Muslims and wanted to see peace in the Middle East while preserving the right of Israel to be a homeland for Jews in a still-troubled world of intolerance. He was a Jew who told me before my Bar Mitzvah that people around the world still persecuted Jews, and I should be aware of prejudice that persisted long after Hitler, Goebbels, and Eichmann were long gone. 

As a teenager he participated in the bus boycotts after the famous Rosa Parks event. He supported the civil rights of everyone. He was guided by values rather than by profits or money. He was a career civil servant and historian for the US Department of the Army. He did not accept the capitalist manifesto – not the new one nor the old one. He believed everyone was entitled to an education and basic medical care. He valued and loved family and friends and they valued and loved him in return.

What we need is a new humanist manifesto rather than a new capitalist manifesto.

I think that Danny was like Lawrence Ferlinghetti who said in “I am Waiting” that he was

,,, waiting for the American Eagle to really spread its wings and straighten up and fly right.

Danny was such an Eagle who showed us how to straighten up and fly right.