Laissez Faire Capitalism
The Trouble With America is that many Americans have bought into this idea that Laissez Faire capitalism is a great solution to social and economic problems. I'll definitely have more to say on this matter in future blogs, but a case in point is an article posted at phillyburbs.com (Pro-Choice Clinton: “No More Coke for You”).
In the article, the author (who I don't know who he is or what he has to say about anything else) suggests that it's problematic for government intervention to 'fix', or otherwise save the 'stupid and incompetent' kids from themselves by legislating soda companies out of schools. He goes on to call it 'government control of personal behavior' and suggests that 'it’s not the soda but the lack of physical exercise causing childhood obesity.' He also states that Clinton and liberals 'have helped dismantle the old “gym” classes that helped keep kids trim.'
It's not that the above statements are stupid, per se. It's that they suggest that laissez faire social and economic conditions are best for America, and that this is simply a fundamental axiom.
It wasn't liberals who underfunded schools, forcing them to find alternate sources of income. It was the conservative movement of smaller government, lower taxes, and personal responsibility for kids who are no longer being taught what that means.
It wasn't liberals who dismantled physical education, brought thousands of hours of advertising for happy meals, sugar-laden softdrinks and sweets, and video games to America's youth. It was conservativism and the corporate hegemony that permeates our culture.
It wasn't liberals who created an economic environment that prevented parents from maximizing the amount of time they could spend with their kids, thereby causing television to raise a generation of our nation's youth. It was corporate greed and the systematic, government involved repression of collective bargaining that reduced wages, forcing the majority of 2-parent households to have both parents working 40 hours per week, which creates such a large amount of 1-parent households in America.
In a word, it's capitalism. Capitalism, supported by the preaching that laissez faire is the best form is in part, destroying our culture, wrecking family life, and making kids fat, misinformed, and fighting to keep it that way.
In the article, the author (who I don't know who he is or what he has to say about anything else) suggests that it's problematic for government intervention to 'fix', or otherwise save the 'stupid and incompetent' kids from themselves by legislating soda companies out of schools. He goes on to call it 'government control of personal behavior' and suggests that 'it’s not the soda but the lack of physical exercise causing childhood obesity.' He also states that Clinton and liberals 'have helped dismantle the old “gym” classes that helped keep kids trim.'
It's not that the above statements are stupid, per se. It's that they suggest that laissez faire social and economic conditions are best for America, and that this is simply a fundamental axiom.
It wasn't liberals who underfunded schools, forcing them to find alternate sources of income. It was the conservative movement of smaller government, lower taxes, and personal responsibility for kids who are no longer being taught what that means.
It wasn't liberals who dismantled physical education, brought thousands of hours of advertising for happy meals, sugar-laden softdrinks and sweets, and video games to America's youth. It was conservativism and the corporate hegemony that permeates our culture.
It wasn't liberals who created an economic environment that prevented parents from maximizing the amount of time they could spend with their kids, thereby causing television to raise a generation of our nation's youth. It was corporate greed and the systematic, government involved repression of collective bargaining that reduced wages, forcing the majority of 2-parent households to have both parents working 40 hours per week, which creates such a large amount of 1-parent households in America.
In a word, it's capitalism. Capitalism, supported by the preaching that laissez faire is the best form is in part, destroying our culture, wrecking family life, and making kids fat, misinformed, and fighting to keep it that way.
posted by Tim C at 11:37 AM
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