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Capitalism is moral: There is no conflict between pursuing your own happiness and helping others whom you have chosen to help.
American Thinker ^ | 09/14/2020 | Charlotte Cushman

Posted on 09/14/2020 7:07:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

In order to save our country, we need to defend and preserve our system of capitalism. It cannot be defended by simply pointing out that socialism has never worked or by pointing out that capitalism is the only system that has raised people out of poverty. Socialists don't seem to care about these facts. Instead, they claim that they can implement socialism the right way.

It is hard to defend capitalism because it has been under attack for decades and the attacks are believed. Many of these assaults have taken place in school with numerous subtle or outright negative comments found in history books or voiced by educators, not to mention the outright distortions about capitalism. One of the most common objections to capitalism is that it is wrong to be pursuing one's own happiness because we should be helping others instead.

The message is that it is moral to live for others, but not for yourself. If it is immoral to live for yourself, then capitalism must be immoral. And that is the reason why capitalism is so hard to defend, because most people accept the morality that one must live for others.

The Declaration of Independence rejects that morality. That document gave Americans the right to live their own lives and pursue their own happiness. It didn't say citizens were required to live their lives in subservience to others. Accepting that one must live for others is the morality of slavery and leads to socialism.

Living one's life for oneself does not mean you don't care about others. People who value their own lives and act in their own best interest, appreciate and esteem their loved ones, their family, their friends, and by extension all good people.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: capitalism; morality

1 posted on 09/14/2020 7:07:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Ayn Rand laid it all out perfectly in Capitalism - The Unknown Ideal. A book which it appears not one GOP legislator in a hundred has ever bothered to read...


2 posted on 09/14/2020 7:11:49 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: SeekAndFind
It is not that simple. Globalist Capitalism is leading to socialism domestically.

Capitalism without Nationalism = suicide.

3 posted on 09/14/2020 7:14:10 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sometimes leftists will say capitalism is immoral, because they say how Jesus said to help the poor. And they say the poor are poor due to capitalism leaving them behind.

But they don’t see that their preferred system of socialism makes all of us poor and leaves all of us behind.


4 posted on 09/14/2020 7:22:14 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: SeekAndFind

A good example is the Pilgrims; first year it was communal communism and failed; when they went independent they succeeded.


5 posted on 09/14/2020 7:31:02 AM PDT by SkyDancer (~ Pilots: Looking Down On People Since 1903 ~)
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To: SeekAndFind

What made the United States so successful compared to the rest of the world, is the synergistic effect of Christianity combined with Capitalism.


6 posted on 09/14/2020 7:36:25 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The UNSEEN HAND exits whether we like it or not.

People respond to incentives, even if it is to join the Communist Party in order to buy a car or to have more children out of wedlock in order to get more welfare dollars.


7 posted on 09/14/2020 7:47:47 AM PDT by MattMusson (Sometimes the wind blows too much)
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To: SeekAndFind
There are a couple funny things about socialism. Socialism is not set up to innovate, or be efficient, or take economic risks. Socialism will generally seize the means of production built by capitalists, or they will steal their ideas (and the intellectual capital). They build little or nothing on their own.

Then, once they have stolen it, they run it into the ground.

8 posted on 09/14/2020 8:23:40 AM PDT by fhayek
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To: SeekAndFind

Capitalism has enabled me to help others in ways that a socialist economy would never have.


9 posted on 09/14/2020 8:35:02 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (This space vacant until further notice in compliance with social distancing 'guidelines')
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To: SeekAndFind
“Well first of all, tell me: Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course, none of us are greedy, it’s only the other fellow who’s greedy.

The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.

The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.

In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about, the only cases in recorded history, are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade.

If you want to know where the masses are worse off, worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that.

So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free-enterprise system.”

― Milton Friedman to Phil Donahue

10 posted on 09/14/2020 8:43:35 AM PDT by newfreep (The Communist/DNC VOTER FRAUD is Trump's ONLY opponent in 2020 election.)
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To: SeekAndFind

People don’t realize it, but conservative capitalism is perfectly explained to them every time they take a commercial airline flight. The safety announcement clearly states that in the event of an emergency, oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling and you should put your own mask on first before attempting to help others with theirs.

Capitalism allows us to help others after we have secured our own well being, at least temporarily. Long term help for others can be achieved once you accumulate enough capital to set up endowments, or other structures.


11 posted on 09/14/2020 11:03:15 AM PDT by DarthFuzball ("Life is full of little surprises." - Pandora)
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