It's sort of already happened: the U.S. government, for example, makes special allowances for the Amish community similar to what we're discussing.
Regardless, I'm not suggesting people can completely, in an instant, divorce themselves from any need for capital. But they can absolutely move away from it after that initial transition period. Some already have, or have tried.
It's an idea that interest me, living in a non capitalist way in a capitalist country, I've never really heard of it. I believe that if someone were to develop this idea many people who have a hard time earning just a little bit a money (minimum wage or something of the sort) in a job they dislike would like to participate in it.
I'd say there's more than sufficient material publicly available, if people really wanted to do it (particularly with the caveat above about it simply being plausible eventually). Though I think it's kinda funny that this is sorta an argument against the public school system, which confounds the usual left/right dynamic when placed in this context.
Private schools also have a particular curriculum to teach which is the same than public school non? But I admit that I tend to underestimate the capacity to self educate yourself if you have the desire to do so.
I dig. And I think this is what people really mean when they purport to criticize "capitalism." They're obviously not in a serious position to dispute the tremendous quality of life benefits that markets have demonstrated, so I suspect if we unpack it we'll find that they probably regard a capitalistic core as some kind of given for any alternative they might advance, albeit with some higher level of regular or social support programs.
Yup I agree, many of my university class mates believe they are marxists, but when I point out some implications they rarely accept them. Such as: no capacity to create a business because all the economy is state based, which means that the state decides of the price of everything and also of the production of everything. That creates a loss of creativity, of the desire to change the world because this capacity is all given in the hands of the state, the people doesn't really have the capacity to shape the world they live in, that is the opposite of freedom and most people wouldn't want to live in such a society.
Also, the major flaw of communism in my view is that all the powers of the country is given to the people who constitute the government. These people are humans and humans make mistake, are often dishonest and have a tendency toward corruption. I think a system which gives a small group of people a limitless power doesn't take that in consideration.
I do, for one simple reason: it demonstrates that one is fundamentally coercive, and one is not, which is probably why one of these systems routinely devolves into totalitarianism, and the other correlates very highly with personal freedom.
This is pretty significant in and of itself, but it's especially so since the seed of this discussion actually came from a suggestion in The Shoutbox that capitalism is inherently hostile to individual rights, when by this (pretty fundamental!) metric, the exact opposite is true.
I wouldn't say that capitalism is in itself hostile to individual rights, but I also wouldn't say that capitalism isn't coercive (even if it is in a much more subtle way than communism is).
I believe that a lot of people, because of the way work is organised right now (pretty sure it's the same in Canada and in the US), live their life out of necessity for survival and not out of admiration for its beauty. The level of anti-depressant has never been this high, I hear a lot of people referring to their job as a burden and with the money that they earn from it just to be sufficient for their basic needs. I'm not saying capitalism is the only cause of that, but the way work is under capitalism, for many people who aren't some Elon Musk type person who loves to work 80 hours a week, is just an alienation of their time which they don't really profit of. (I don't really have a solution, I just illustrate an issue and for the record Karl Marx talks about that in a very interesting way even if he's often painted as a dangerous figure). Wouldn't you say that those people who hate their job and who go to work 5 days a week are coerced, even if indirectly by capitalism?
Btw I also enjoy discussing with you, you don't seem to care about your ego and do directly to the point which is rare ^^.
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