To the Editor:
I would like to thank David Katzevich ’16 for his enlightening opinions column. Unlike many young radical collectivists, Mr. Katzevich acknowledges that capitalism has improved the human condition by causing “rapid technological progress and an unprecedented jump in human life expectancy,” and been efficient in converting unused natural resources into materials for housing, food, fuel and the technological devices we all depend upon to live. Such honest admission is refreshing.
Sadly, and illogically, Mr. Katzevich contradicts himself and has issued a call to seize and destroy the very system of banking, trade and entrepreneurship from which he has benefited his entire life, demanding a “rationally governed society that produces for human needs rather than corporate greed.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard this slogan before. Show me any society supposedly built on such a model, and I will show you human suffering on a massive scale. Mr. Katzevich’s hysterical call to “raise hell” against “the armed corporate state” may satisfy a savage disposition, but it is mere hooliganism and hardly an intelligent or rational action to make the world a better place.
In defense of capitalism, I recommend the writings of Ayn Rand (e.g., “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal”) and Milton and Rose Friedman (“Free to Choose”) as the antidote to Mr. Katzevich’s descent into madness. What he does not understand is that the keys to wealth generation and human progress are the rights to keep what you earn and to trade freely. Any less is theft, violence and social collapse.
Or maybe this is what he really wants to accomplish. Something to ponder as I drink my hot toddy in my fossil fuel-heated living room this winter.
Scott Lloyd
Database Administrator, Facilities Management
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