Day Brown: 'Heart of Darkness: Capitalism as a Religion'

Posted by Day Brown on alt.psychology :

Loosers in tribal, primitive warfare commonly became slaves. Barford,
in "The Early Slavs" says we have the word because the Slavs were so
often enslaved. They were not good warriors, but farmers. But they
werent good slaves either, commonly escaping into the boonies where
they knew how to live off the land. The slavemasters knew this, and
this limited their abuse.

Tribal slaves were commonly household servants, became well known, and
integrated into the family. Tacitus reports how at German Tribal
meetings, even the women and slaves rose to speak.

Capitalism made a very different thing of slavery with the plantation
system. And in the tribal system, everyone was of the same race.
Capitalism did not abolish slavery, middle class morals and farmers
did that. Solon explained to the Greeks, that if they permited
slavery, then rich men would buy them out or drive them into
bankruptcy, and then farm the land with slaves. Which they did, in
fact, eventually do.

A closer look at European history reveals that it takes a strong
yeoman farmer class to create, and defend, a republic. Gibbon
commented how robust the Roman republic was when the legions were
manned by the sons of yeoman farmers who felt they had an investment
in the system to protect, and some say in the laws. This was destroyed
by what we now call an "all volunteer" army. Before, it was harder to
muster the support for military adventures when the fathers stood to
loose their own sons. After, the legions came to be manned by the
lowest classes and foreigners, some of whom could not even speak the
language.

What we have now is not capitalism, but cronyism using manipulation of
what mite otherwise be the free market to screw everyone else.