Mr. Smith's idea

Once upon a time there was this dude.  We'll call him Mr. Smith.  So Mr. Smith is the type of dude who sits around thinking of ways human beings can organize themselves to produce the things we need for society.  So he says the best way for us to do that is for everyone to just do what's best for him/herself and because the interest of the individual is equivalent to the interest of the community it'll all work out in the end. 

So people do that, more or less, and over time the humans build up this whole system that is now being imposed upon the whole world and as time goes by the humans become more and more used to it and since it's been several hundred years none of the humans have an active memory of actually creating the system that Mr. Smith set up.  But people look around and see sweatshops and environmental destruction and child labor and unemployment and they a few of them say, "Well shoot, this looks pretty bad".  And the people nod their heads and agree, saying "But what can we do? This is the nature of the system it's always been this way." 

But they had to do something and so and so they say "Perhaps we could work in some regulations of some sort to mitigate the worst of the abuses".  And the people set about doing that. 

But it's like putting obstacles in the path of a rock rolling down a hill: the obstacles might slow it down but the rock is still going to end up at the bottom of the hill because that's the nature of the system of setting a rock atop a hill and seeing which way it rolls.

The people organized and lobbied and rallied and protested all in hopes of putting some obstacles in the path of the rolling rock and finally after years of hard work they got a new regulation.  And the rock rolled right around it. 

It's not the rock's fault.  It's just doing what gravity dictates. If your system sets a rock on top of a hill, it's hardly fair to expect the rock to roll upwards is it?  It's not Mr. Smith's fault, he was just a dude with an idea.  It's not the obstacle-makers fault; they're just trying to take some of the sting out the process.

Who's fault is it?

It's the fault of the people who say that Mr. Smith's idea is the only possible way of organizing human society and that no alternative can ever exist so just shut up and live with the consequences.

F--k that.  Here's to all the little people who are visionary enough to believe that another world is possible.

Comments

[coturnix]

Oh, but Mr. Smith was not too bad considering it was 19th century and he played in the vaccum. It is the guys who came after and misinterpreted what Mr.Smith wrote that are to be faulted. Ever check his book in the bookstore? Notice two things: first, the title is "Wealth of Nations" (not wealth of individuals, i.e., it is about the ways for countries to beat the crap out of competition in a non-globalized 19th century economy), and second, the book is abridged - what is missing are chapters in which Mr.Smith persuasively argues why his system will not work in practice, especially due to inheritance. In other words, his system works well for one cycle, or one generation. Once that first iteration is over, the system is stuck - it hardens and a new hierarchy is cemented in place.