Once a week The Arizona Republic, in their editorials or letter selection, raises the specter of socialism. It's seen as the bogey man of US politics, a danger lurking in the woodshed capable of destroying the country. Some democrats like AOC or Bernie Sanders are labelled socialists or even worse communists. Anyone who is not true Republican must by default have socialist leanings. I suspect that some of the aforesaid may be collecting their social security or at least looking forward to medicare! But that doesn't count! For Republicans, Capitalism with a big C is the answer to all of life's problems, the panacea which wipes away suffering, creates profits and jobs and delivers the goods and encourages the competitive spirit. It built this country after all. Capitalism enshrines the idea of profit and hard work and risk taking. Sell something that people want and make a profit and the bigger the profit the better.
Though editorial writers attack socialism nobody does the same for capitalism. Capitalism, it is assumed is good. But, some of the effects of capitalism can be disastrous. The philosophy of profits at all cost, even at the expense of human life, permeates boardrooms and is an acceptable part of doing business. The Boeing 737 Max debacle is a recent example. Two planes went down. The opioid crisis was a multinational sales effort to get people addicted and killed thousands. Monsanto weedkiller Roundup makes people sick and ill. The asbestos industry is still killing people. Where profits matters more than people, there are problems. And even if a company gets into trouble and a CEO is fired, a new one is appointed, a few billion dollars are disbursed to the victims, someone apologizes somewhere and life goes on. Facebook's is the latest…they had to keep their falling sales up so made sure the children and young adults who watched their app. saw the right material to boost their exposure. The excuse for all this is to keep people in jobs and to maintain profits for the shareholders even if it means hurting others.
So here we are. Our environment under siege and the icecaps and glaciers melting because of the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. The planet is warming, the biosphere changing rapidly. Species are dying off. The oil companies who have caused it by digging out the coal and drilling for gas to keep our civilization going are keeping their heads down but still investing. The car industries are pouring out new products which, according to their advertising will whisk us away to vast beautiful wildernesses which ironically they are helping to destroy. Whole populations are now on the move to escape environmental damage and poverty. It's like living in a pressure cooker. The frog is in the warming water but so far it's still swimming around. The scientists are shaking their heads and presenting their results to a population which really doesn't want to know and to politicians who don't want to tell people the truth in case they lose their vote.
Capitalism does not seem capable or willing yet to try to save our planet and is often part of the problem itself, so who is going to save us? All we have left is government led by men and women who might hopefully say, "We see what the problem is and this, my friends, whether you like it or not, is what we will have to do if we want to survive. It will not be easy to dig our way out of this hole and will take time. This is the plan. We do not care about our popularity, we care only about passing on to all our children a sustainable environment, with clean water to drink and food to nourish them and the opportunity to live fulfilling and meaningful lives." This sounds challenging and if it is as difficult as convincing the population to get vaccinated to save their own lives, we have a problem on our hands. Factionalism and division can only lead to societal disintegration and chaos. We either learn to co-operate or the whole of civilization as we know it, falls apart. Not a lot of alternatives!