dismantling capitalism
Moving to a new system is such a huge task, because billions of people are propping it up, holding it together.
Sure, there's the governments, and the corporations, the owners and the regulators. But it is regular people doing the day-to-day work that makes it all function.
If you're sick of capitalism, so you stop going to your factory job, what happens to you? You lose your income, your home, and your food.
If everybody in your local factory stops going to work, it closes, the town falls into poverty and despair.
Food becomes a project of state welfare. Property taxes get paid for from savings. Nobody can go eat at the local restaurant or buy trinkets from the local maker.
So how can we move away from capitalism when we are so dependent upon it?
It starts with growing food and building self-sufficient communities. It is tough, though, because we still want access to things from the global market. You can grow tomatoes and squash, but tea? rice? coffee? Probably not.
So you need something to give in exchange for those goods, or you need to forgo those goods.
Can you manufacture your own concrete? Or lumber for construction and repairs? Can you make paints and paper for artwork? Can you manufacture pots and pans?
And would you even want to? It is arguably MUCH more efficient to outsource much of this production to factories that can ship out across the globe. But those factory workers want something in exchange for their labor.
I honestly have such a hard time imagining a post-consumerist world. Ending capitalism is one-thing, but ending consumerism is entirely another.
I'm not a big fan of centralized power, whether in the large corporations, or in large governments. I know you can do state-socialism, where you uphold most of the consumer system, most of the global system of trade, while not putting individuals or stockholders in control of the means of production.
It breaks my brain when I try to think of a way out of this.
But I really do think it starts with growing food in our communities, so we can reduce our reliance on jobs.
I want to grow a big garden this year and give food away to my neighbors. Let's see if I'm successful.