On War And The Working Class

Recent reports regarding the murder of 30 farmers and the injury of an additional 40 in Afghanistan by a US drone attack, are grim reminders as to the primary victims of war. For no demographic suffers more from the military conflicts of nation states than the international working class. The fact that such geopolitical conflicts are primarily at the behest of international oligarchs and almost exclusively on behalf of the interests of the global wealthy class compounds such disproportionate injury with indefensible insult. Frankly, the victims of war for the most part have no stake in such matters beyond trying to survive the aggressive nature of contentions between the world’s power elite as they attempt to outdo the other in their respective quests for global domination and resource extraction. All the more reason then why the international working class has no practical reason or moral justification for either endorsing or engaging in war on behalf of their respective nation state.

For when we of the working class engage in collective murder on behalf of our nation state, we subsequently act against our own interests in more ways than one. Firstly, when working class people of any country engage in war against another, they actually fight on behalf of their own oppressors. For the wealthy oligarchs who exploit labor for the primary benefit of their elitist class are likewise the primary beneficiaries of battlefield conflicts and military conquests. And true to their nature, predatory capitalists consistently exploit the working class in the process of military engagement rather than fight their interventions wars for themselves. Secondly, when working class people of any country engage in war against another they actually fight against their own common fraternity. For we of the international working class are circumstantial compatriots in the hierarchical structure of economic theft and systemic exploitation of time and labor. In this regard, American factory workers and retail laborers have more in common with the farmers who were recently murdered in the pine nut fields of Afghanistan than we will ever have with those who benefit from such actions of US military aggression and interventionist wars.

War in the context of the current global geopolitical structure involves the collective murder of the working class by the working class on behalf of the wealthy oligarch class. A shameful and senseless endeavor with no foreseeable conclusion.

On Socialist Values And The General Welfare

Socialism is a collective effort to provide for the common good and general welfare of all people within any given society. The scope of the application of socialist principles can range from a collective as small as the family to that of an entire nation state. In fact, the general welfare clause appears two different places in the US Constitution; including Article 1 Section 8 where Congress is commissioned with the responsibility to provide for the common defense and the general welfare. That the term “general” was by no means intended to be an all inclusive term is evident in that even as those words were being penned, the slavery of human beings was an instrumental practice in the early development of the US economy. Clearly, the framers of the Constitution envisioned a select application as to who exactly should provide for the welfare of whom. A scenario that has only changed so far as concerns institutional logistics over the course of the last 230 years.

For from the founding of the US, the laboring class has always provided for the welfare of the capitalist class. The relationship between each class has consistently been that of the exploitation of the former for the primary benefit of the latter. And there is little doubt that this arrangement is by design and strategically managed to that end. The fact of the matter is that capitalism is an amoral system whose primary purpose is to exploit labor for the welfare of wealthy oligarchs. Now this is not to imply that all capitalists are amoral people; however as the basic purpose of capitalism is to maximize profits and accumulate capital, there is simply no code of humanist ethics incorporated into the system itself. And so when the controlling class accumulates wealth, claims personal possession of, and assumes control over the surplus which is produced by the working class, they are acting in accord with the fundamental principles of an amoral economic system. Hence the primary objective of capitalism is to provide for a concentrated, rather than the general welfare. Capitalism ultimately then is the systematic process of a well orchestrated oligarchy.

Socialism on the other hand is a collective effort for the common good and the general welfare of any given society. In essence socialist values are based upon the concept that any society is a family. And just as in a family the ultimate objective is to provide for the general welfare and for the good of every one in the family, so likewise socialist values are based upon a natural incentive for exercising collective efforts for the benefit of everyone within any given community. Furthermore, just as any family which operated by the exploitation of the weaker by the more powerful would clearly be regarded as dysfunctional, similarly any collective which so operates merits the same assessment.

In conclusion, although the US was never intended to actually operate so as to provide for the general welfare; nonetheless the farmers of the constitution laid the groundwork for a society which functions in accord with socialist values by twice referencing the general welfare as an intended objective of our sovereign nation state. Ultimately the interpretation of and the application of the general welfare clause is rather telling as to our social values. The issue then becomes whether our collective values are such that we as a people would prefer to continue to provide for the concentrated welfare of wealthy oligarchs, or whether we would exercise our collective efforts for the common good and the general welfare.

A Brief Commentary On Capitalism

Capitalism is an amoral economic system which allows, encourages, and enables profiteers to accumulate capital by exploiting labor, manipulating markets, and bribing public officials. By qualifying Capitalism as an amoral system I do not mean to imply or insinuate that all Capitalists are amoral individuals. Rather, I am merely pointing out the fact that there are no ethical considerations or obligations of humaneness factored into the system itself.

Capitalist profiteers subsequently and systemically use their accumulated capital to manipulate financial markets so as to accumulate even more capital.

Capitalist profiteers use their accumulated capital to bribe public officials to further the accumulation of their capital in the form of government subsidies to their financial operations.

Capitalist profiteers use their accumulated capital to bribe public officials to increase the accumulation of their capital by incorporating the assistance of those public officials in minimizing the expenses of the labor which the Capitalist profiteers exploit in order to accumulate their capital.

Capitalist profiteers use their accumulated capital to bribe public officials to increase the accumulation of their capital by incorporating the assistance of those public officials in engaging in international trade agreements which enable the Capitalist profiteers to exploit even cheaper labor both here and abroad.

Capitalist profiteers use their accumulated capital to bribe public officials to increase the accumulation of their capital by sending the publicly funded military to invade foreign countries as muscle on behalf of the Capitalist profiteers, who then extract the resources of those countries to add to their already accumulated capital.

As Capitalism is an amoral system, then Capitalist profiteers are apathetic as to the source of labor, so long as that expense is minimized and the profits from the exercise thereof is maximized. It is thus preferable to the Capitalist profiteers to exploit labor by mechanical or technological means, when by so doing the profit gained from non human labor exceeds that of the exploitation of the labor of human beings.

As Capitalism is an amoral system, then Capitalist profiteers are apathetic as to any hardships that their endeavors to accumulate capital might cause, create, or otherwise influence for any person or species whatsoever.

In essence, Capitalism is an amoral system which creates poverty, initializes provocative wars, and disrupts vulnerable ecosystems in order to enable Capitalist profiteers to accumulate the maximum amount of capital at the least expense necessary to such profiteers.

The Birth Of Capitalism

By the strangest of circumstances,
A group of ten previously unknown,
Were deserted in a far off sea,
A tropical isle they now commonly owned.

We must work together, said one;
And together erect ten huts.
If we will only cooperate,
Then we won’t find ourselves in a rut.

We must also gather food,
So each one of us can eat.
We will share what we gather,
At an appointed place we will meet.

Most everyone agreed,
Yet as plans were underway,
A certain man stepped forward,
He had something he wished to say.

Everyone was silent,
As this man made his case,
He said equality is wrong,
Then he volunteered to run the place.

He explained that their plan,
As pleasant as it might seem,
Was actually Socialism,
Contrary to the American Dream.

Cooperation is a liberal plot,
And sharing lacks the appeal,
Of good old fashioned competition,
Then he offered them a deal.

You obviously need a leader,
And folks I am just the man.
If you nine will work for me,
I will be the leader of this land.

So first you must build a hut,
But you must construct it oh so fine!
Build it firm and strong,
For this first hut will be mine.

Afterwards from the scraps,
And whatever may remain.
You may build nine common huts,
Make them about the same.

Now your daily work,
Will be for my Corporation.
But realize the merits,
For we are now a Nation.

Those of you who do the most,
And complain not at any given task,
Will be allowed more than the rest,
What more could you possibly ask?

Granted, I will keep the most,
And I will always have the very best.
But work with pride at what you do,
Then you will be better than the rest.

Surely you now understand,
Since I’ve enlightened you with realization,
That the plan as I have explained it today,
Is the way of civilization!!

Dave Henderson
Denison, Texas