Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Why Can't We All Have Our Own Industrial Section?

Here's an ethical dilemma for you, say you're a supporter of the industrial powers:

Why can't we all possess our own industrial section? See how ridiculous that would be? Let's say every man wanted to own his own electric generating plant, or every man wanted to have a factory making cars, or every man wanted to have his own monster truck tire factory!

Obviously we would be overrun with industries, if every man had his own anything like that. Then the government would most certainly step in and say, 'We have to have some limits on industry, because, quite frankly, there's nowhere left in the world with all these blasted factories and generating plants!' My point would be exactly! If all of us can't have them, why should anyone be allowed to have them?

I'm a big pusher of the idea of fairness, of equality, and of "what's good for the goose." If it's good for the goose, in other words, it's good for the gander. So that cinches it.

There's nothing equal about saying this one rich guy, like Warren Buffet, can own his own electricity company, but we can't all have one. There's me and Grandma, that'd be two electricity companies right here on our little half acre. There's the neighbors to the east. And I know they have anywhere between four and 10 people who live there, so that would be four, maybe eight, maybe 10 electricity companies on their land. And so forth, as far as the eye can see, electricity plants, each churning out its own sparks, night and day.

Or let's take tires. There's companies like Firestone and Goodyear. But why should the privilege be limited to them alone? Why can't we all have our own tire factory? Again, that would make two tire factories on our half acre, then four to 10 for the neighbors to the east, then one for every other person in town, the county, the state, and the country! What are there? Something like 220 million people in the country? And in this little picture of mine, that'd be around 220 million different tire factories and 220 million different electricity generating plants. After all, fair is fair!

You say it's unrealistic? Well, many years ago it was very realistic. Once upon a time, every man could be a cobbler, a tinkerer, and a craftsman. There wasn't just one little section in town as the exclusive domain of some rich industrialist or faceless corporation. You not only knew who your neighbors were, but you went over and personally bought shoes from them, then stayed around while they bought shoes from you. And the same with everything else.

We could get back to that again if we see it as a fairer system. I'll sell you five tires, then you'll come to my place and you'll sell me five tires. Or we could just trade even up if that's what we chose to do. It's simple.

My point is not that we're all going to have our own industrial section. My point is a question, Why should these industrialists, these certain ones, get their own industrial section, while the rest of us are left sitting high and dry? We're suffering at their hands while they exploit us. But turnabout is fair play. How about we all manufactured tires? That'd take away some of their security, wouldn't it? That'd be one way of cutting some of these clowns down to size.

This is really something to think about. If we can't all have our own industrial section, why are we allowing anyone to have one?

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