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The Best Solution to Capitalism in One Word: Subsistence
What should come after capitalism? Communities of coordinated self-reliance that live within their means, i.e. subsistence.
As Trump and other leaders offer up their citizens to die in droves for the sake of serving capitalism there is growing sentiment that maybe we don’t actually want to be tools to be used and discarded by the wealthy. There is among those with some sense and vision a recognition that major change needs to happen. You see it all over social media: Eat the rich. Fire your landlord. Unionize and smash capitalism. That is good. But how, exactly, are we as individuals supposed to get from this terrible present to a better future — and what/where is that better future? In a word: subsistence.
Subsistence is, basically, living for the sake of living. To elaborate, it means working for the sake of maintaining a community as the main goal, with all other work done in support of that. The subsistence community farms in order to eat and builds in order to make use of what it builds. They use what they have, and little else — ideally, they live in such a way that they never exceed the resources available. It is by nature incredibly efficient, since resources are consumed close to the source and managed by those who consume them. It is economical in terms of effort and time, as well, since working for one’s own…