Get Firefox

Today marks the 1.0 release of Firefox and officially kicks off Browser War 2 (Electric Boogaloo). I am plugging Firefox partly because I love a grass-roots movement showing signs of sticking it to Microsoft, but mostly because it is an excellent, highly customizable browser.

Though you may have problems getting the site to come up as the servers are being flooded today, I recommend clicking here or on the Firefox link to the right and experiencing it yourself.

The Soul of Capitalism

I just finished an excellent, though dense, book about the inherent conflicts between capitalism and democracy. In The Soul of Capitalism, William Greider shows how the popular concept of the free market isn't really free. What is the value of individual well-being and dignity, of equality? What is the value of open space and unspoiled air and water?

Nature adds nothing to growth until someone cuts down the trees. Or a river becomes a free dump for factory wastes.... These goods are not counted, economists would say, because how could you? They are unpriced assets, neither bought nor sold.... [But] priceless does not mean worthless.

Greider further explores some of the inherent wastefulness in consumerism, the failings of the free market to provide protection of the environment and workers' rights, and the way capitalism drives political corruption.

Surprisingly, though, this is an optimistic book:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That remark has been attributed to Margaret Mead but, whoever said it, the observation resonates down through our history. In democracy, the deep politics originates in social reality, not in legistative halls. People everywhere have the ability to alter social reality, at least in their own surroundings. When they decide to act on their convictions, sooner or later the politics will follow. A meaningful minority can change the nation. I saw it happen in my lifetime. The civil rights movement--composed of the humblest, weakest citizens in the land--set out to liberate themselves from the racial caste system and, as Martin Luther King, Jr., prophesied, they liberated a lot of white people too.

We don't have to lose our sense of self, community, or justice in the name of economic progress. Besides, how much economic progress have we really made when a man with crushing chest pain has to think twice before going to the emergency room in the fear of economic ruin for his family?

Greider makes a pretty good argument that if corporations are forced to take the long view, and not just focus on quarterly earnings, they will start to account for all the priceless things they now ignore. He includes examples while acknowledging that they represent a tiny minority of businesses.

If you find this book too dense, another similar book that tweaked my perspective and was a quicker read was Eric Schlosser's Fast-Food Nation. I'll warn you, though. You might not want to eat fast food again.

What books have you read lately?

What about the kittens? THE KITTENS!!!

Had to lighten things up around here. Courtesy of NTodd.

"Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always." - Gandhi