Jane's Posts

Feb 11 2004 12:22 pm

Do you think it is *not* OK for anyone to own more stuff than other people?
Lori

I don't see what would make it okay. If people are dividing up what is available - and they are, - it's clear to me that it should be divided equitably.

"Ah," you say, "but what is equitable"?

Good question. I look at what we do IRL when fairness and peace are primary values and we're dealing with primal desires and people at their least civilized. We divide the birthday cake at kids' parties equally down to the crumb. So that tells me that on the most fundamental level we think "equal" is "equal."

However, once we're past the basic need, the cake, we change our approach somewhat. The ice cream is optional and variable. We give the kids no ice cream, a little ice cream, or a lot of lot of ice cream based on their input (unless, of course, their parents are there to intervene). So surplus we distribute according to individual taste and desire.

Within limits, of course. We do not allow one or two kids to take all the ice cream. We also don't allow everyone to seize whatever ice cream she can get. That would be a disaster, because the kids would not be considering how much ice cream they actually wanted; they would be thinking about getting as much ice cream they could. The two biggest kids with the most older brothers would be sitting in one corner with a 10 gallon tub of ice cream they couldn't eat and the others would be lying around the room bruised and ice cream-less and sobbing and hurt.

That's capitalism. We dissociate individuals from their needs and their desires and replace them with acquisitiveness.

jane