“the economically fit are expected to drive the economically unfit out of existence”

“All of this (globalization) creates a problem for democracies. Democracy and capitalists have very different core values. Democracy is founded on equality  — one vote per citizen regardless of his (sic) intelligence  or work ethic. Capitalism, however, is motivated by inequality: differences in economic returns create the incentive structure which encourages hard work and wise investments. … The economically fit are expected to drive the economically unfit out of existence; there are no equalizing feedback mechanisms in capitalism.” — Lester Thurow

The above quote was one of the chapter leading quotes for one of my communication text books. It wasn’t put there as an example of something the authors disagreed with, either. From my perspective it shows quite a twisted perspective of expectations. There is the worship of democracy and equality on the one side, vs. the villainization of capitalism and competition on the other side.

What gets lost in the mix is the idea of freedom. When you live in a republic you have rule of law, you have freedom. When you live in a democracy you have equality but no freedom, the rule of the mob.  That is why the Greek philosophers rightly called democracy the depraved form of government that republics turned into.

On the other side we have capitalism as a cut-throat entity — survival of the fittest. But that is evolution, not capitalism. Capitalism is money going to make more money, expanding the pie, floating all boats, giving people more options and more freedom. It is when government starts to intervene and even things out that everything starts to sink — for everyone except the corporations that seek the government’s collusion in decreasing their competition (it’s called fascism, if you’ve forgotten).