Capitalism is not the problem in itself, it is in the way that it is applied or misapplied. When all men and women are considered equal and treated equally then the system works. When one group is favored or handicapped in favor of another it doesn't. When ethics and values are applied, ie, thou shall not steal, thou shall not force undue burdens on others because of your dishonesty and thou are entitled to nothing special because of your skin, sex, religious or other beliefs, then it works. When one person or group is forced to carry the ball for another it doesn't.
Capitalism is not the problem in itself, it is in the way that it is applied or misapplied. When all men and women are considered equal and treated equally then the system works. When one group is favored or handicapped in favor of another it doesn't. When ethics and values are applied, ie, thou shall not steal, thou shall not force undue burdens on others because of your dishonesty and thou are entitled to nothing special because of your skin, sex, religious or other beliefs, then it works. When one person or group is forced to carry the ball for another it doesn't.
This is a very eloquent post. The american system works so well because we do mostly pull our own share. But you will never, ever be free of that ball because the world isn't always about making that next buck so you can buy that next DvD you'll watch once and never again. We have social security today because in the great depression a whole generation watched their mothers and fathers die in poverty and misery. We have welfare today because our socity refuses to put women and children on the street and if you think it's so great or so easy to be a man capable of earning an honest day's pay to get on a dole you should go try it.
Your taxes go to fund a bewildering array of social services like WIC (Women with infant children) that ensures no infant will ever go hungy. Food stamps so that no one who's unfortuante enough to be without a job will go to bed hungry. Your parents or grandparents are, to some extent, being supported by my tax dollars.
The net isn't perfect. The elderly are all too often asked to choose between paying their food bill and paying their prescription drug bill and my grandmother was quartering her prescription doses before my uncle found out and the familly stepped in to intervene.
But the point is America is not just capitalism and democracy, it's a society and to some extent we look after the most vulnerable because through chance or circumstance or twist of fate everyone in a free-for-all market economy can find themselves on the edge of the abyss.
Of course that's not to say we need a canadian style welfare healthcare system, or the cradle to grave social services you find in europe. That's simply not America. But it's also not America to leave women and children out on the streets, or our parents and grandparents and so there will always be a ball and you will always be carrying it.