The Democracy of the founding fathers was Greek Democracy, predicated upon a slave society, and restricted to only the elite. This is the society we live in today, even with our reforms towards direct representation. The system is inherently biased towards the election of elites and against the representation of the masses. Hamilton called it “faction” when the working class got together and demanded better conditions, and mechanisms were built in (which still exist to this day) that serve to ensure the continued dominance of the elite over the masses. The suffering of the many is intentional. The opulence of the wealthy is also. This is the intended outcome.

  • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
    14·
    1 year ago

    You said it yourself: for a living.

    Growing food with a main goal of profits in a private enterprise rather than just sustenance or profit through government grants without private market interference has a lot of downsides, including to farmers themselves.

    For example, optimisation for profit means a lot of waste:

    • Perfectly healthful produce with aesthetic faults has to be left to rot on the ground as it won’t sell and nobody’s going to collect it for those that need it but can’t afford to pay the “market price”

    • If you have an exclusive deal with a grocery store or other intermediary, the excess of an unexpectedly good crop yield will likewise in most cases have to be destroyed because the buyer can’t receive all of it and you’re not allowed to sell to their competitors.

    • Likewise, any excess of a particular good harvest across a crop will also be destroyed to avoid losing money on the market value of the crop dropping due to increased supply.

    All of this while a few megacorps sit between farmers and consumers paying the same or less to farmers and charging much more of consumers while the cost of living and business expenses of farmers keep rising, making it harder and harder to make ends meet if you’re not the aforementioned megacorps.

    And that’s not even mentioning all the issues of long hours and some of the worst working conditions of any industry, all to save a buck or two to stave off bankruptcy and eventually starvation for a little longer while the megacorps and their billionaire owners and executives gobble up almost all the value of what you produce.

    • galloog1@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      I’m perfectly happy not spending 90% of my time and energy feeding my family. You may think that would be a better life but industrial farming does have a lot of benefits, through either command or liberal economics. It’s there that the liberal system shines bright as a command economy requires local production to motivate workers for the above reasons.

      • Queue@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        1 year ago

        I’m sorry right wing thought can be put down into 3 words for a sound bite, and actual thoughts and explanations take longer. I guess reading beyond 6th grade is communism now.