Careful What You Wish For
One of my favorite pastimes is playing devil’s advocate. I know people whom enjoy playing the game for the pleasure of being an antagonist, just to see the chaos that they can create. If I’m having a really bad day I fall into that category too. However, more times than not I like playing devil’s advocate, even siding with positions I don’t believe in, to find the truth, validate a belief or improve a point of discussion in some way. Personally I believe that if you want something to stand the test of time it needs to be thoroughly challenged. Who’ll challenge a premiss more vigorously than the person who’s most vested in its survival?
The more contentious the subject the more imperative the need to play devil’s advocate, but usually most people are too vested in their sacred cows to ever risk slaughtering them if they’re proven to be false idols…religion, politics, economic oh my! Recently I played devil’s advocate with a stranger on the subject of politics. I spent most of the night laughing myself stupid watching his head explode as I confronted his beliefs, which for the most part I actually agree with. His problem was that he couldn’t defend his position because it was flawed. He refused to ever put his sacred cow on an alter and risk sacrificing it. Thus he was unable to defend his idol from would be imposters.
After looking at the invoice for my impending car insurance renewal I have decided to look at one of my sacred cows, capitalism. Capitalism takes a real beating from the left because they portray it as an evil system of greed that is destroying society, whereas the right sees it as the greatest thing since the creation of the wheel. In this particular instance I think both sides are right…and inevitably both sides are wrong. In a vacuum capitalism is a perfect system and the best thing since the wheel. But we don’t have true capitalism, we have been subjected to crony capitalism.
My insurance company bumped up my insurance quote by $120 every six months for a speeding ticket, which is their prerogative to do. However, they are imposing a premium for the possibility that they might at some future date be required to make a payout. In the United States you are required by the government to maintain car insurance in the event that you damage someone else’s property.
Governmental intrusions into the private sector, like mandatory insurance, create abnormalities by imposing parameters upon capitalism. By changing the rules of the game government has distorted capitalism, and has created the very monster that the left so vehemently opposes. How ironic the true source of the left’s ire is its almighty savior, GOVERNMENT…be careful what you wish for.
By government creating abnormalities in capitalism it has created the very loopholes that creative greedy minds need to have in place in order to extort the populous. For example if insurance was not mandatory: upon receiving my extortion notice from the Powers That Be I would have had the choice to not renew my insurance policy with any insurance company. That would be my right and I could exercise that right. In order to remain profitable my insurance company, and the entire insurance industry, needs the drivers who don’t get in accidents to maintain insurance. Without government intrusion I would be free to just walk away, and by doing so the free market would tell the insurance industry that they can’t extort consumers. Without government intrusion society could vote freely with its purses and wallets, and the greedy bastardized version of capitalism that the left both created and complains about wouldn’t exist.
True capitalism and limited government, what a progressive idea. Perhaps we could eliminate our points of contention and actually work together to solve our problems, but that would require putting our sacred cows on the alter of devil’s advocacy and risking their slaughter. Apparently society doesn’t appears to be that courageous.
© Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Christopher L. Hedges and AverageJoesStory.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
