Capitalism’s Golden Cage and the Illusion of Freedom

Honest question: Do you feel free? Truly free?

If there’s one aspect to life that Western ideologists tend to emphasize above all else, it’s the ill-defined concept of ‘freedom.’ We, who were lucky enough to be born in a wealthy capitalist nation, are free to do anything.

With hard work, determination, and some entrepreneurship you can achieve everything you’ve ever dreamed of! The American  —  the Western  — Dream is yours for the taking. There is nothing holding you back except yourself. You are free, and you should be damn proud of it!

So the story goes.

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

What it really boils down to is…

• You are free to do whatever you want, but most of your days must be spent working.

• You are free to own things, but you won’t be able to afford them. You will pay rent, and you’ll like it.

• You are free to live the way you want  —  once you’ve worked for at least forty years and were lucky enough to be able to save up some money.

• You can have children, sure, but it will financially ruin you. Also, you’ll have to choose between watching them grow up and having a career. Choose wisely.

• You are free to travel wherever you want, provided you have the money and your country allows you to.

• You are very free to pursue your hobbies and interest, but you’ll be too tired and poor to do so. You will fill the void with TV and consumerism.

• You can do meaningful and important things (cleaner, teacher, garbage collector, artist, cashier, poet, nurse, writer, gardener…), but we will pay useless investment bankers, real estate agents, and the like much, much more. Also, your tax dollars will be used to bail out banks. You’ll have no say in that.

• You can choose not to spend your days toiling for the benefit of others  —  naturally  —  but you’ll be homeless and hungry if you do so.

• You can leave capitalist society whenever you want, but there is no place you can go, for everything is privatized and the ecosystems are dead. Also, you’ll have to pay taxes.

• You are free to choose your leaders, but only once every couple of years. And only from parties that are deemed acceptable. Also, they must be friendly to capitalist interests (lobbying makes this nation go ‘round!)

• The police exist to protect your freedoms  —  from yourself. Also, they can murder you at will.

• Our soldiers will fight for your freedom, overseas and all around the globe. Oil and resources are your freedom.

• And so on.

Amour sacré de la Patrie,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs
Liberté, Liberté chérie

What does the notion of freedom truly signify in the context of Western-style capitalist societies?

Are we free, or is our freedom just an illusion? A mirage that we’re all chasing after, as we trade time and energy  —  our life, basically  —  for the chance to accumulate more and more wealth and possessions?

The reality is that our freedoms are heavily circumscribed by the systems and structures that were put into place long before we were born. There was never a conscious decision of any of us to join or accept the way of things. We were born into it, and then molded and shaped until the decision was made.

The forces that promise us the ‘American Dream’ or the European equivalent of social democratic ‘fairness’ are the same forces that keep us trapped in a cycle of work, debt, and consumption. They do try to give the illusion that we have a say in all that, but, honestly, we really don’t.

Our freedoms are limited by the power of corporations and the state (in other words, institutions) that control the economic, political, and social systems that govern our lives. These institutions determine the opportunities, possibilities, and futures we are presented with. They narrow our scope of imagination.

The acceptance of these institutions and ideologies is so deeply ingrained in us, so propagandized, from birth to death, that we willingly bend over and embrace the status quo even as it fucks up people all around us.

Every alternative has been rendered evil and unthinkable, and capitalism reigns supreme. The thought that a system based entirely upon egotism, individual profit, and greed, somehow, in some nebulous way, translates into collective well-being is, absurdly, almost never questioned. And even when it is, any thought of systemic change is somehow more taboo than exploiting and killing innocents in foreign nations.

communism = totalitarianism, genocide, poverty, and death

anarchism = chaos, bloodshed, and… also death

capitalism = prosperity, equality, and freedom!

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit 
für das deutsche Vaterland
Danach lasst uns alle streben
brüderlich mit Herz und Hand

The empty promise of freedom is used to justify a multitude of injustices, from wage slavery and income inequality to environmental degradation, wars, and the suppression of civil liberties. The pursuit of profit always overrides considerations of human rights and freedoms. It’s why, historically, capitalists have always aligned with and prospered under fascist regimes (see Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts & Reds, for example).

Interestingly, the US, as the nation that places the highest value on what they define as freedom, is also the nation with the highest prison population by far (both in absolute and relative terms). Much higher than all supposed bastions of totalitarianism such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and so on. It seems that many people are rather ungrateful for the large degrees of ‘freedom’ they are granted.

You are merely free within the context that is presented to you as the natural way of existence.

And you can never leave, you cannot abandon capitalism, for it has taken over almost every corner of this planet.

If you hate capitalism so much, well, then just go live in the forest!

…is a rather common critique to some of my essays (there are very few leftists on this platform, unfortunately). Well, dear critic, how? Everything is property, everything is private possession. There is no forest left, no field, and no river. I am trapped and so are you.

Your freedom is a cage. A golden one, granted (if you, by chance, happen to live in a wealthy nation), but a cage nonetheless. And it will remain so until we realize that it does not have to be.

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I’m author, writer, and activist Antonio Melonio, the creator of Beneath the Pavement. If you enjoyed this piece, please consider becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack or over on Patreon. It’s the best way to support Beneath the Pavement and help me put out more and higher-quality content.

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