Unpublished Op-Ed submitted to the Toronto Star

The recently revealed fraud amongst pharmacists is another in a long list of scandals that are the tip of the iceberg of capitalism. Capitalism is the son of patriarchy.  Patriarchy has been the primary meta-ideology of society for about six millennia and it has not gone well. Patriarchal values are male-dominated, authoritarian, hierarchical, controlling and violent. This has led to a world that is male and exceedingly violent towards anyone who is not a mature white male in society. The world has been ravaged by these values again and again. When applied to economics these are the origins of greed and selfishness.

Capitalism is an aggressive, predatory, male economic theory that drives our thinking and relationships. It is a self-centered, selfish approach to society that masquerades as an attempt at equality. The self-interested rational actor under this theory is driven by his own self-interest, greed and unlimited profit which leads to a deeply corrupt system where everyone is gaming everyone else. It also results in an amoral theory that cares little for any negative results of capitalist activity on the environment, the economy or workers. Despite a two-century record of dismal failure it has created a significantly unequal and unfair society yet economists, politicians and the general public still defend this dismal theory.  According to the Credit Suisse 2018 Global Wealth Report 1% of the world’s population owns nearly half the wealth, 10% own 85% and the bottom half own virtually nothing. Hardly a stellar record. If the polio vaccine or HIV treatments were 1% effective they would have been abandoned long ago. The myth of working hard and achieving is simply that. Yet economists, politicians, leaders and governments continue to laud and promote the system.

Capitalism is the great modern fantasy lottery. Everyone plays but only a few lucky ones are the real winners. It is constantly playing up its successes while downplaying or ignoring its massive failures. It removes an egregious amount of money from the economy every day in profits that should be used to build roads, schools and hospitals but instead build luxury mansions and buy expensive cars and clothes as cliché statements to the rest of society. It wastes horrendous amounts of money and resources. Capitalism is a trickle-down trickery. It is a boom and bust economic raging bull doing damage around the world. All this is considered normal. Leaders throughout history have heartily endorsed such an unscrupulous system.

The reason is that business has become seamlessly integrated within the running our governments and our legal system. The wheel is fixed. Every four years the public simply endorses their plans by choosing between two highly similar private sector options. Democratic capitalism is manipulated democracy.

What is and should be normal is the equal distribution of wealth worldwide under a fair market socialist system that regulates profit through taxation, provides quality healthcare, shelter, food and water and an economy that respects the environment and people. That is what everyone wants but never gets. This is democratic socialism. A fair market system instead of a free market system. It is important to remember this is not authoritarian communism used in Russia and China. It is an ideal democratic system that is most closely followed in the Scandinavian countries and models itself on matriarchal rather than patriarchal values. Scandinavian countries have higher taxes, a vibrant economy, more social equity and a system that distributes wealth across society. It’s not perfect but is significantly better than North American capitalism yet these countries are rarely used as models for the world to follow. Capitalism is not the only economic theory but we treat it as though it was THE economic theory.

Clearly, both patriarchy and capitalism are inconsistent male theories with desired modern equitable social values. Society has experimented with a variety of social and economic systems over the past millennia and now it is time to try democratic socialism. The question is why do we still believe so slavishly in capitalism when the evidence is so powerfully against it. The winds of change are becoming evident.

We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If governments do not act quickly inequality in society will continue to widen and express its angst by electing more and more desperate radical governments to find the change they want. This will destabilize the world as we are already seeing it leading to general chaos. The only alternative is to relatively peacefully make positive social, political and economic changes now This is not the kind of world anyone wants to live in other than existing dictators and leaders, entrepreneurs and those who have already profited from the unbalanced capitalist economy. These winners are always celebrated but the reality is that only small percentage of society catch lightning in a bottle. We need to abandon capitalism, patriarchy and all other forms of male influenced theories. We need to be courageous enough to fight for a better future for all our children.