Defending capitalism

I wanted to address the issue of capitalism yet again, because after reading Friday, April 30’s, Wespeaks I see that my point was lost on most people.

The argument I hear most often from The Left on issues regarding WalMart’s “exploitation” of its workers is that workers do not, in fact, volunteer for the jobs they hold since, if they did not accept them at such minimal wages, they would have to live in poverty. However, it is NOT WalMart’s moral responsibility to provide a “comfortable existence” for its workers. WalMart knows that it can get no workers to work for free and pays workers the lowest price it can pay and still have the jobs filled. This is how the [free] market operates. When you buy a good or service, you want to pay the lowest price you can get away with. There is no such thing as “workers rights.” Furthermore, there are no rights that must be provided by others. The government is ONLY here to protect its citizens’ rights, and not to forcefully redistribute wealth based on some arbitrary criteria.

But, since these writers care more about the workers than they do about the businessmen who keep this country thriving (and without which NOBODY would have a job), let’s focus on the workers’ “plight”. Mr. Kevin Young (April 30) says that the minimum wage in this country “just isn’t enough to live a comfortable existence.” So we all have the right to be comfortable? At whose expense? Mr. Young tells us that WalMart’s workers have more right to “a few bucks” because WalMart’s CEO can afford it than does WalMart’s CEO himself, who has earned the money— not by force, but by skill.

In 1905, my great-grandfather came to Ellis Island off the boat from Russia. He had only the clothes on his back, spoke no English, had no skills or experience to speak of, and just arrived in a country that knew no Social Security, “workers’ rights,” USLAC, welfare or minimum wage. Strangely enough, he, like the millions of other working immigrants in this country, never complained of victimhood. He got off the boat like everyone else, with absolutely no money. And he made it. Amazing. No Big Government handing out checks to people who were “discriminated” against, no Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. My great-grandfather didn’t speak English. He was a minority. But he was a smart, intelligent hardworking person who knew better than to ask for handouts. He earned money doing menial jobs, as he had no skill or formal education. But he started a business which survives to this day, and employs hundreds of people (and none at minimum wage, by the way) . Not a single handout was given to him. He is the American Capitalism they are trying to crush.

And his story is not unusual amongst those immigrants. They didn’t feel forced into taking jobs. Instead, they were grateful for the opportunity America offered them (thank you, Capitalism), and knew that only effort would bring success. They worked hard, because they knew that the better they were for their employer, the better wage they would earn. They loathed the subhuman misery that came from nations like Soviet Russia, which used the “from each according to ability, to each according to need” principle that Mr. Young is so fond of. America is the richest country in the world thanks to Capitalism. Russia suffers to this day.

My point is a moral one. These three Wespeaks presented a philosophical argument that uses coercion to achieve its ends. It forces privately owned businesses to act in a specific way, with absolutely no moral authority over it. For (add bleeding-heart liberal organization’s name here) to tell my great-grandfather that he isn’t free to negotiate a wage with a prospective employee to mutual advantage is IMMORAL, plain and simple. “Most people would agree that the government must step in when . . .” Oh? Look at our current government. Do we really want more government interference, more meddling, more rights being taken away so that WalMart workers can live a life Mr. Young has decided is “comfortable?”

Capitalism is the only free and moral system possible. Freedom is not government interference (laissez-faire), is not Communism, is not “from each according to ability, to each according to need.” Freedom is the right of WalMart to pay whatever it can get away with paying to its workers, if it so chooses. Freedom is the right of WalMart workers to take that wage or, if they feel insufficiently compensated for the work they have provided, to go find another employer who will pay up. Freedom is both parties acting for mutual benefit. Freedom is free minds and free markets.