Socialism/Capitalism:  Either/Or?

We know that socialism doesn’t work.  Witness the old U.S.S.R.

But we also should know that capitalism doesn’t work either.  Witness the mess the capitalist-driven world is in right now.  

So why not try something new?  

Why don’t both sides admit they don’t have all the answers,  accept that the other side might have some good ideas, and build a new form of government based on both?

It can happen.  It’s very possible for opposite ideals to work together and create something new.  America itself is an example.  

Take justice and mercy.  They are opposites that cannot exist side-by-side, and cannot be bridged.  If we based our courts system on justice alone we would have eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth justice.  But if we based our courts on mercy alone we’d live in pandemonium. Yet we base our court system on both, and it works.  

Or take freedom and order.  Freedom lets you do anything you want to,  and order makes you a prisoner.   They cannot exist together.  But in our society, they do.

How?  

As E.F.Schumacher wrote in his classic book, A Guide for the Perplexed, instead of bridging differences, we transcend them.  We admit our weaknesses, appreciate each other’s strengths, work together, and give birth to something new.   It’s called transcending problems that cannot be bridged.  It’s called love.

Actually, we’ve been moving in that direction for a long time although neither side likes to admit it.  Capitalists love their police forces, their  fire departments, their libraries -- all of them socialist organizations. And in recent years communist China has discovered the beauties of capitalism. 

My dream is that capitalists and socialists will someday admit they are moving toward each other, hang up their pride, and move faster.

-Skip