However, nowhere are the unthinking idiots more numerous and exposed to the will of others than in politics. The Green Party in Norway has for instance managed to align itself with some of the most exploitative corporations in Europe. That's pretty rich coming from a party that always prided itself on being anti-capitalist.
Eager for the latest and greatest in green technology, the Green party pushed for a deal where publicly managed pension funds were forced to invest in wind turbines to be deployed along the coast of Norway.
No-one seems to have bothered to do the math on this decision. But the expected productive output of the wind turbines will never generate a meaningful profit. There will therefore be a dramatic pension shortfall due to this decision in the not too distant future.
Adding insult to injury, the wind turbines will litter the coastline, making it not only less attractive to look at, but also a lot more dangerous for the millions of birds that fly up and down this coastline as part of their annual migration. There will be many thousand dead birds every year because of this "green" technology. We may even see the extinction of endangered species that are currently just barely surviving.
The Green Party has managed to become the enemy of the people and bird-life, and many are starting to notice. Anti-capitalists are out in force, protesting the wanton destruction of wildlife instigated by the Green Party. But the Green Party refuses to bend to the populists. They use riot police to force protesters aside so that heavy equipment required for the construction of wind turbines can get to the peeks of mountains and hills.
Members of the Green Party have become the fascist lackeys of big capital that they always accused everybody else of being, and it's unlikely to end well for the greens. They will not remain in power for long, and their politicians may at some point face charges of treason for the damage they caused to pension funds and natural bird habitats, all in the service of foreign corporate interests.
Looking at this from afar, I'm glad I got my savings under direct control and miles away from any pension plan, public or private. I'm also glad I'm not paying any taxes. I'm not funding this in any way. The destruction is on others to finance, not me.
The situation is thick with irony. The anti-capitalists have no trouble painting the Green Party as nothing but a fraud, and the very personification of what they've been claiming to detest. Yet, the situation is much more subtle than the anti-capitalists make it out to be. The greens didn't end up in the current situation due to some deep seated evil on their part, but due to their refusal to think. They got trapped by foreign interests because they fell for the claim that wind turbines is the future of green energy. Without the will to do even the most basic independent research and thinking, they became the useful idiots of large corporations.
But anti-capitalists are no more philosophical in their approach to politics than the greens. They too are a bunch of gullible romantics, ripe for the plucking. If they gain popularity, we're sure to see them too trapped by a bunch of smooth talking salesmen equipped with glossy brochures of some utopia or other.
The word anti-capitalist is evidence of the unthinking nature of these people. It's a word full of emotions, but void of meaning. What exactly is an anti-capitalist? No-one can give us a coherent answer. The greens claimed to be anti-capitalist. But look at them now. It was not a philosophy of any value to them. Nor is it useful to anyone else besides those intent on turning anti-capitalists into their own minions.
Anti-capitalists are wide open for manipulation. They can just as well be turned into libertarians as communists. All that's required is to present a romantic vision that will appeal to them. Communists will emphasize equality and the importance of having the right type of people in control. Libertarians will emphasize the value of local government as opposed to centrally directed power.
There's a host of anti-capitalists out there, all ripe for the plucking. A properly crafted tale of decentralized power and the virtues of local self government will likely do the trick. It would be a first step in bringing these people over to the idea of liberty and self ownership. We might as well use these people for our own ends towards a more liberal world order, because if we don't someone else is sure to do so.
When talking to anti-capitalists, we need to ignore the nonsensical nature of their chosen label. Words are not important. Ideas are what counts, and the ideas of local government and voluntary social interaction are appealing to most people. Encourage them therefore to think of anti-capitalism as a philosophy founded on these ideas. They will gladly soak this up to fill the vacuum inherent in their own philosophy. With a bit of luck, anti-capitalism will end up being indistinguishable from traditional libertarian philosophy.
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