We are all slaves

I've always been the one to question society, to question the principles that we in America stand for, and I've always tried to put a different perspective on life. I've tried to always find the substance within an idea and interpret it within my own life. Because that is the only way in which a person can figure out what they should believe in my opinion, by finding what pertains to their life, and what it is that they think is relevant to their existence.

And I guess before I started this very long piece, I should make it clear that I love America, which at its core America is a beautiful and diverse nation that thrives upon its own beliefs. But as Thomas Jefferson wrote[it's in here later as well] it is our responsibility as citizens to criticize what we believe is wrong with our government. That it is our right to do so, and that we wouldn't be what we were today if we hadn't. I won't lie, this piece promotes something that is far from popular, yet when the blacks fought for their civil liberties it was far from popular as well, but it was a point that needed to be made. So without further ado, please read this and tell me what you think, whether you agree or disagree, whether I'm full of shit or not, because honestly I would love to know what you think.

And so here it is...

We call ourselves a democratic nation; we stand for equal opportunity to obtain three basic rights our country was founded on: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, yet do we really? Karl Marx, writer of the Communist Manifesto[ a document in history that we villianized even though it was misinterpreted in its brilliance], said that mankind was designed with certain needs such as food, water, clothing, etc. but more importantly than that mankind needs "meaningful work" in order to achieve a perfect society. That in order for man to truly experience liberty[freedom] they must first do something that satisfies their own selfish, inborn desires. Happiness is thus obtained by our own meaningful work because not only have we done something to the best of our ability but consequently the reason we did our best was because it was something we truly found to be meaningful.

Yet we in America are stuck in a capitalistic empire, where everything is dependent upon how much money you make and on the value of pieces of paper we call money. Isn't that farther away from the ideas our nation was once founded upon more than anything? Capitalism is at the very core the opposite of meaningful work, and thus prevents life, liberty, and happiness.

Let me explain. Capitalism in its essence is evolution in an economic setting, where the ones most qualified become the fittest, and where the weakest[whether that be by intellectual, charismatic, or most articulate among other things] are left behind to fail. They are forced into a life of dull routines, not really living because in a certain sense are already dead. If you don't believe me then why is it that we look at a homeless junkie and automatically think there is something wrong with them, that they are a drug junkie or a lunatic or maybe they just happened to get laid off and couldn't afford their bills? But we look at the CEO of a corporation and we automatically assume that they have to have some quality that makes them the best. We are taught that the homeless drug junkies are there because they wasted their life, that if they wanted to they could have tried to pursue the American dream, that if they would have just been smarter or faster or richer that they would have survived.

It's sick how we can just assume the best are both the richest and happiest. Yet is that the case? Does running a company truly make one happy? Does money truly mean one is happy? If that were the case, wouldn't Kurt Cobain still be alive and recording new albums in order to expand his happiness? Wouldn't Ernest Hemingway[who granted may have genetically been more likely to] have not committed suicide in order to write another literary masterpiece? Does anyone really believe that there is a person in this world who believes working at McDonalds is really contributing to society, that your life has some sort of purpose because you make the best Big Mac every single night for a hundred people?

I believe the answer is no, and I'll even go a step further to say capitalism and its structure of ruthlessness and only the best really become successful, is what has corrupted our once humble nation. We have followed the blueprint of history that has always ended in massive rebellion and in turn the demise once powerful figures. You don't have to look any farther than 400 years ago when Great Britain[which was eerily much like the Roman Empire] was the most powerful nation in the world[eerily much like ourselves] where their greed for power and wealth caused them to expand their influence into India, Africa, and the Americas, yet that wealth is what corrupted them. Their unquenchable desire for wealth is what in the end destroyed their power because people with nothing to lose, people who had a dream for life, liberty, and a happiness that couldn't be defined by wealth but rather was defined by a dream of being able to live in a way that saturated their own selfish, human desires to be nothing more than living.

Do we not look at history and see the mistakes that seem to destroy every once great nation? How can we as a nation not see that common thread and fight to change it? We were a nation founded upon the words written by Thomas Jefferson, that the governed have not only the right but the responsibility to ensure their own longevity, that it is their responsibility if necessary to abolish old ways if it is destructive of the good of the nation as a whole, that it is our responsibility to do what is necessary to ensure the happiness of it's citizens. But still we follow this routine of only being interested in more wealth rather than our own happiness, that the ones who really pursue happiness instead of wealth are lunatics, and that anyone who opposes American democracy and capitalism is our enemy. Isn't that the mistake Jefferson warned of though? Are we not becoming like Great Britain and the Roman Empire before it, trying to expand our influence on culture, religion, and government on other countries because they provide us some sense of power and wealth? Have we not made the mistake of growing our wealth at the expense of the poorer or less qualified?

Why is it then that we think we won't repeat history? Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeating it, and we in our selfish ambition to show our power and wealth, are repeating it. Marx knew communism was an impossibility because people could not accept the concept of not having wealth in money, but rather wealth in a community that thrived because of its diversity, culture, and desire to live life actively, instead of alienated by a capitalistic society where your worth is in your job title. People would have to be brain washed because we have become so far away from our own humanity that it's all we know. It's the reason Communism failed in Russia, China, and North Korea. Mankind has become so consumed by their greed for power and wealth that we cannot accept life as being anything as simple as just writing a story because that was what you loved. We can't accept the idea that someone can teach because they love to see someone understand a concept, that someone can grow food and cook it for everybody without getting paid because that's what they loved. People always expect something in return, never is generosity and meaningful work simple enough.

And because of this I'm afraid to say that people will never truly experience humanity as it was intended, never as a species will we be able to say that we are truly free, because we aren't and we never will be. We are all slaves. Slaves to society's perceptions of what makes one happy, slaves to a piece of paper which only carries worth because we say it does. And the ones who are like me and wish to find happiness, are left waiting for a revolution, left searching for meaningful work while everyone else calls us lunatics.

When in reality, one day someone will look back and see that history warned us. They will see that all we needed to do was control our need to be the wealthiest and most powerful, and that if we had then we would have forever been those, even if it couldn't be counted in a bank. And by that time it will be much too late.