Serendipper
We sometimes see things as entities because they are entities.
An ant isn’t just an ant, it’s part of a colony.
Sometimes a wolf is lone, sometimes it’s part of a pack.
Species aren’t just species, they’re part of an ecosystem, with both competitive, and symbiotic relationships with that ecosystem, known or unbeknownst to themselves.
If one species, race, sex, culture, class and so on (or if you prefer, some individuals, families) manages to thoroughly dominate the competition, making itself extraordinarily wealthy (decadence), it may go on dominating them, until there’s nothing left, or alternatively, it may feel a little sympathy for the weak/unwilling, or, it may realize it’s necessary for its own existence in the long run to give something back (symbiosis), or, the weak/unwilling may ban together and organize a resistance, a campaign to its reign.
egoism, corporatism and conservatism, where individuals and groups primarily care about themselves, is the Right approach, whereas altruism, socialism and progressivism is the Left approach.
Capitalism with the four monopolies (see Benjamin Tucker) is somewhere in between, but more on the Right, whereas a free market without the four monopolies is more on the Left.
I say neither approach is absolutely right/wrong, good/bad, but only relatively.
If a civilization, or an individual is to survive, it has to find the right balance of these two approaches, and the right balance varies.
There is a time to take, and a time to give back.
Giving back can be the right thing to do, or necessary, but also leaves one vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
If the victor voluntarily gives back, or is made to give back too much, if we bite the hand that feeds, we stand to lose everything, but on the other hand, if the victor never gives anything back, he will consume and consume until he’s either too fat to consume anymore, and bursts/festers, or he will consume all of the resources on which he depends, ultimately leading to his starvation.
Civilizations have to find the right balance of growth, and sustainability/recession, or they perish.
It can be a tightrope walk, there are many variables and it’s difficult to manage them all, in addition to greed, not just on behalf of the haves, but on behalf of the have nots as well.
And our genes, memes and environment, as individuals and as societies, incline us more to the right hand path in some ways, and the left hand path in others.
Actually what I meant was progressives have become less preoccupied with class politics, and more preoccupied with race, sex and religious politics, turning progressivism into what I see as a tool of the economic elite, but in misunderstanding me, you made an interesting point yourself.
Progressives are allying themselves with the private sector, much to the dismay of conservatives who wedded themselves to the private sector and noninterventionism so much, they can’t back out now without giving up a lot face, credibility.