Crystal

“As the old Russian joke goes, capitalism was the exploitation of man by man, whereas communism was the reverse.”
― J.M.R. Higgs, Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century

“The pre-Thatcher state had functioned on the understanding that there was such a thing as society. Governments on both sides of the Atlantic had tried to find a workable middle ground between the laissez-faire capitalism of the nineteenth century and the new state communism of Russia or China. They had had some success in this project, from President Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s to the establishment of the UK’s welfare state during Prime Minister Attlee’s postwar government. The results may not have been perfect, but they were better than the restricting homogeny of life in the communist East, or the poverty and inequality of Victorian Britain. They resulted in a stable society where democracy could flourish and the extremes of political totalitarianism were unable to gain a serious hold. What postwar youth culture was rebelling against may indeed have been dull, and boring, and square. It may well have been a terminal buzz kill. But politically and historically speaking, it really wasn’t the worst.”
― J.M.R. Higgs, Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century

“In the wake of primitive accumulation, the wage relationship became a seemingly voluntary affair. Workers needed employment and employers wanted workers. In reality, of course, the underlying process was far from voluntary.”
― Michael Perelman, The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation

“American Christianity did not undergo the church-emptying declines of European Christianity. Its perspective was similar to that of Mother Teresa, who in 1988 said, “Why should we care about the Earth when our duty is to the poor and the sick among us? God will take care of the Earth.” Here God is the “big man” of the tribe who offers protection in return for service. Accepting that the climate could spiral into chaos is accepting that such protection does not exist. This makes working to prevent climate change ideologically problematic.”
― J.M.R. Higgs, Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century