Compassionism

by Mona Shaw

“The fundamental problem is whether we are going to tank the entire economy to save 2.5% of the population which is (1) generally expensive to maintain, and (2) not productive.”

                            -Scott A. McMillian

Well that didn’t take long. In a week, we’ve moved from social distancing to eugenics.

McMillian’s message mirrors that of the Sociopath-in-Chief in the Whitehouse, who said yesterday that the “cure can’t be worse the problem itself.”

Throughout the day we heard government “leaders” tell us we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs or painful choices.

Please note and remember this absolute truth.

Whenever a wealthy person tells you they are making a painful decision, they are not the ones who will feel that pain. It always means they are choosing to protect someone’s wealth over someone else’s ability to survive.  Always. In this case, it means the Plutocrats have decided to sacrifice old people to maintain their profitability.

You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see how this will play out.  It means they’ve decided to sacrifice old people to protect their wealth. The first phase of eugenics is to demonize a select population. This has already begun.  Remarks are emerging that praise elders who will sacrifice their lives for the economy and condemning those who won’t. Seniors are already being called selfish for destroying the livelihoods of younger generations for a few more years of life.

Most alarming is the fact that our history under capitalism suggests this sacrifice will catch on and become popular.  Not only are we about to push Grandma over the cliff, we’re about to be mad at Grandma if she doesn’t jump on her own.

Capitalism requires eugenics.  It always has.  That is its nature.  Capitalism prioritizes profits over people. That’s why it’s called CAPITALism and not PEOPLEism. In order to maintain capitalism, capital must perpetually increase. Capital must grow regardless of the human cost. Money must make money.

Eugenics/Capitalism happens incrementally and quickly at the same time.  It always begins with the most vulnerable and “disposable” populations. We’ve already accepted eugenics for the sick and suffering who are not wealthy. Even many “liberals” are okay with letting those people suffer and die.

It won’t take long for other expendable populations to be led to some proverbial gas chamber It won’t take much to decide we can no longer help the poor at all. Or those with disabilities. “It’s sad, but it’s just too expensive,” will be accepted rather quickly.  We already agree that the poor are contemptible and inferior in character, industry, and intelligence and otherwise generally irresponsible. We already resent it if they have a life that’s not bare-bones and miserable. We condemn them for going to a movie with “our money.”

Any extraneous work force will be next. Working class wages will be cut.  “We just can’t afford it.”  Or, “Anyone who makes more than $10 an hour is driving jobs out of the country.” Working class families will find themselves living together in cramped quarters that make the stories of the Soviet Union look spacious. The rich will get richer. Wall Street will see boons, and we’ll believe that most Americans living hand-to-mouth is a good economy.

The great irony is that all this human sacrifice won’t fix capitalism. Capitalism is not sustainable. Capitalism is a Ponzi scheme. Its wealth is on paper only. It’s funny money.  It’s electronic bites lighting up massive screens under a daily clanging bell. Eventually the scheme is exposed. We’ve seen this before. We saw it in 1929 and in 2008. The working people of this country then must endure living on even less, so we can bail them out. Again. And, when the dust clears, most of our sacrifice goes into their wallets.  The richer get even richer.

I believe the COVID-19 pandemic is real. The evidence is too overwhelming to deny. I believe it is as dangerous and as deadly as we’ve been told.  I also believe it is not out of the question that the brief plutocratic support for stemming the pandemic is exploitation to justify another bailout for another imminent collapse. They are certainly running with that.

The great American lie is that capitalism is our only option if we want freedom. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that our only two choices are capitalism or some Stalinist version of communism.  That is a lie.  We have far more choices. It doesn’t even have to be socialism, though socialism is a far, far more humane economic system. We can call it whatever we want, but we must construct an economic system that puts the survival of humanity over the wealth of a few. We can do that and still have democracy, still have elections, and still have the Bill of Rights.  We could even have a better Bill of Rights and elections that the rich don’t own.  Compassionism?

We are at a moral crossroad. We will either choose compassion, or we will allow ourselves to be bullied and cowed by the threats of the rich.  Whose side are you on?