Taking a cue from economist Thomas Piketty’s sudden fame for his devastating arguments re: the inevitability of increasing inequality in his 700-page book Capital on the 21st Century, let’s start the ball rolling. And not like Sisyphus, striving forever uphill, towards the top of the financial/political pyramid. Rather, downhill. Towards the common good.

A World to Win: Abolishing Capitalism For A More Just and Sustainable Economic System

April 24, 2014

by Abby Zimet

commondreams
Evidently taking to heart the notion that White House petitions serve the legitimate political purpose of “making it easier for politically underrepresented groups to mobilize themselves (and) help solve collective action problems,” a Chicago theologian, professor and blogger has begun a We the People petition to abolish the capitalist mode of production. The petition by Adam Kotsko has garnered much nasty hilarity from the right wing — cue talk of fascists, liberals, idiots and North Korea — but some thoughtful dialogue elsewhere. It still needs a lot of signatures. Hope, sometimes improbable but better than the alternative, springs eternal.

“While the capitalist mode of production has done a great deal to accelerate the development of technology and increase the availability of consumer goods in the last few centuries, it has outlived its usefulness and has in fact become destructive. Inequality, unemployment, financial crises, and environmental devastation all point toward one inevitable conclusion: we must get rid of capitalism, once and for all.”