Government Shutdown - Canadian Style
Here in BC the government is shutdown because the civil service is on strike. Also, a strike has stopped the post office from working. It's a hassle personally and the effect on me isn't huge compared to how others are disrupted. Yet I think most people favor the strikers because the employers won't give an inch unless compelled and most people understand what that's like. I've had employers laugh in my face when I've asked for a raise.
We live in a capitalist culture where all values seem to be open for negotiation. The fact is that the capitalists don't want to negotiate with their workers and workers have to negotiate as a group to have any say at all. As we know, this can result in the workers withdrawing their labor which is a disruption to those of us who depend on the products of that labor. But in a capitalist system I can see no way around this.
"To each according to need, and from each according to ability" is a potent Marxist political idea that obviously never caught on in a capitalist culture. It still is an idea in the foundation of my structure of understanding but it has a fundamental flaw too. Just what is this "need" thing and how do we define "ability"?
I wish there was an objective way of determining these things. I can fantasize about some sort of formula that would determine what the actual need of a postal person is and a requirement that they be paid that for their work. I can't imagine that fantasy working.
Humans are evolved creatures - we weren't created. We evolved in a huge competitive world. In the natural world there really isn't a right or wrong way to do things. Rather, whatever works works. And strange as it seems - the wonder of the natural world arose from that unreasonable situation.
I'll put on my Dr Pangloss hat here and suggest that it will all work out for the best.
What do you think?
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.