Day 68 – It’s All A Capitalist Plot!

“BP. Because you aren’t mad enough to not drive your car.”

~Totally made up new British Petroleum slogan

189.9 lbs.

In doing this project I encounter a lot of arguments that I think are silly. Like the school boards who argue that feeding kids crap in the cafeterias is a perfectly cromulant way of keeping the budget in check, nevermind all the hyperactivity, obesity, etc. caused by such a diet. Or English football fans with interesting views on the World Cup, TV coverage of.

A while back a friend of mine mused on Facebook that it was silly to think Capitalism could do anything but harm. I think her argument was silly. What does this have to do with nutrition? You’ll see.

This isn’t going to be a blanket pat on the head for consumerism; there’s too much of that already. As I was writing this article, a tweet appeared in my twitter stream in which the chap asserted that he laughs at anyone who doesn’t have an iPhone or Blackberry. If you have any other smartphone, a non-smart cellphone, or no cellphone at all, he suggests, you’re a loser. He then laid into someone for having a Nokia in 2010.

That isn’t the worst of Capitalism – it can be argued that Capitalism is a system for legalizing greed. When the goal is to get as rich as possible, the only way that “rich” still has meaning is if most people aren’t rich. Greed driven Capitalism can be thought of this way; there are 10 people sitting around a pie on a table. One person takes 9 slices for him(or her)self, and the other 9 people are meant to fight over the last slice. That’s not far off from the actual distribution of wealth.

But there is an up side. A big one. You see, any Capitalist economy gives the middle class extra votes.

Every few years you get to go to the polls and vote for this person or that person for local, provincial, state, or federal leadership. But every day when you make the decision to buy product A instead of product B, or choosing to buy product C instead of not buying it, you’re voting.

If you think certain soaps contain too much perfume, buy the ones with less in them. If enough people think the way you do and more people buy soap with less perfume in it, manufacturers will make less of the heavily perfumed soaps and more of the kind you prefer. In that way, Capitalism is a form of democracy. It’s certainly a vote.

The guy at the top with his 9 slices of pie, he’s going to buy the perfume with gold flakes in it so he can be reminded of how above everyone else he is every time he showers. His vote doesn’t count. But the middle class buy the supermarket or drug store soap that’s affordable, but has the features or qualities they want. Their vote counts – it affects the products most of us buy.

Some folks farther down the economic spectrum are forced to buy what they can afford, and their options are limited. That’s why purchasing-power votes are primarily a middle-class thing.

So, my friend would argue, under Communism we’d all have the same amount of money and each get equal votes. But have you ever seen a Communist country where everyone is actually equal?

Idealists who rail against Capitalism as though everything about it is the Great Satan (ironically, the ones I meet are usually from a middle class upbringing) forget that Politburo members in the Soviet Union had access to special, well stocked stores while the proles lined up for hours for single-ply toilet paper that was rated by grit, or to gaze longingly into empty butchers display cases to imagine what the meat would look like if it were available.

“But Capitalists are greedy, and pollute the environment to sell us crap!”

“Capitalists” aren’t some barons sitting about in a boardroom, laughing at the working stiffs down below. A Capitalist is simply either anyone who invests in something for gain, or a supporter of Capitalism.

Those teachers working their fingers to the bone trying to teach an overcrowded classroom full of kids? Capitalists. Because their union, that “fighter for the workers”, takes their pension fund and invests it on their behalf in big business to make more money.  And if you bought a computer, and subscribed to an internet service provider to get internet access (which is what is allowing you to read this blog) you’re supporting Capitalism, making you a Capitalist.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Corruption in any system is bad – there is always someone at the top making sure he or she gets more stuff than anyone else. Go back far enough in history and there was probably someone in the second cave from the left with a larger share of mammoth meat and freshly picked berries than somebody else – and I’d bet a spearhead that the person in question didn’t even pick the berries.

But fast forward to now, when cavemen have to get by on work in Geico commercials, many modern humans belong to a very powerful group; the middle class.

So if you’re on one of the middle class rungs and are able to choose product A instead of B, remember just how much power you have. If you agree that foods made from food are more appetizing than ones made from things ending in -ite or -ate, if you think food ingredients should sound like a grocery list and not a chem lab supply sheet, then buy those products instead of their competitors. If you think it’s horrible that HFCS is in so many food items these days, try to buy products that contain natural sweetener like cane sugar instead, or better still no sweetener at all (really? They put sweetener in mustard? I still think that’s weird.)

If you want to help the environment, buy eco-friendly products. If you want better food in your supermarkets, buy the ones that represent the kind of products you want more of; grown local, more food less preservatives, or whatever. But remember – your vote counts.