Isn't the "free market" just another name for Social Darwinism?

[Dr. SC1ence]

Isn't raw, wild Nature set up per the "free market" model.

In Nature, the wild animals that can't find food JUST DIE.

That's the "free market." That's Social Darwinism.

Germany has a higher average standard of living than the U.S., has a higher per capital GNP than the U.S., and yet they have almost no unemployment, and they have tons of economic supports for their unemployed. They have essentially NO homeless people. I interpret this as simply meaning that in Germany, the society and the government has made a decision that every citizen counts. The U.S. is, by contrast, a wild west cowboy and Indian state, in which the "Indians" (the poorer people) have no right to exist and deserve nothing.

In the U.S., the rich and the upper middle class are PROUD that the U.S. has so many homeless and poor living in urban and rural slums, since it proves that the U.S. is not a "Nanny State," and is instead what it has been since 1776: a Social Darwinist State.

The Tea Party Movement of today seems 100% dedicated to returning the U.S. to the 100% pure Social Darwinist State it was at the time of the U.S. Founding Fathers.

It is understandable that followers of the Russian atheist Ayn Rand could be champions of Social Darwinism. But what about all the people who claim to worship and obey God and the commandments of God? How come so many of the champion the Social Darwinist State, also know as the laissez-faire free market?
Here's a famous quote from Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species": "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." Several times in that book he writes of the grandeur, wonder and beauty of the process of development of new more fit species and the extinction of the less fit species. The subtitle to his "Origin of Species" is "The Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." One chapter is titled "The Struggle for Existence." The constantly talks of "the war of nature" and of extinction. Yet, despite all the obvious suffering and endless killing involved in Nature, Darwin is able to rhapsodize on the "beauty" of it

[Qxer]

What? It's incomparable. You're basically saying that pure-capitalism is a pure natural ideology that would exist if everyone were to mind their own business. That's totally not true, history disproves that claim.

[glenn123]

Because it's a loose enough system for them to corrupt. A free market is a good idea when it's not being twisted to fit the needs of a few. Then it becomes unfair and only an ideology. In a fair competition, you don't have the refs and umps in bed with one of the teams. That destroys the integrity of the idea....and 'free' no longer becomes an option. It's only an option for those rich enough and dirty enough to buy politicians, have lobbyists, circumvent laws and regulations, etc. It's been my experience that you have to force people to be responsible. And that's not happening at the moment. So they get away with whatever they can. You would see the same effect on a small scale; a small business, perhaps. If we, as employers, don't hold them to an honorable, responsible existence, nobody will.

[Robert]

The strong survive and the weak perish.

[J]

In the 1770s in the Colonies, there were more opportunities for individual initiative in terms of homesteading, apprenticeship, and expanding markets. Likewise, there were charitable activities performed by Churches for those "in need," and peoples' extended families helped as well.

In the current U.S. scene, drugs, crime, dysfunctional families, poor educational systems, and lack of available work contribute to a significantly changed society. People have now to take advantage of real work opportunities such as offered at http://www.rwm.org/rwm

A view you might learn by is given in John Mackey's Conscious Capitalism, which recounts how blending the best of individual awareness and creativity, incentive, and social awareness worked well for Whole Foods.

[Todd Blone]

Markets involve people freely exchanging one material or service for another. Both the buyer and the seller make the exchange of their own free will.
In the wilderness, one animal will kill and eat another. This killing and eating is done without the consent of the animal being killed and eaten.
Jeeze, dude, I can't believe you are so fucking stupid that you can't see the difference.