THE DILEMMA OF THE 1990s

by Edgar D. Mitchell, Sc.D.

The closing years of the Twentieth Century find civilization in a peculiar situation. The socialist experiment during this century has failed and no great idea for social organization has arisen to oppose the excesses inherent in unfettered capitalism and free markets. Let me explain.

Historians have long recorded the class struggle between the "haves" and the "have nots". Whether the "haves" ruled as monarchs, emperors, or oligarchs, were chosen by heredity, coup d'etat or military conquest, the outcome has been invariant. Lord Acton's aphorism has prevailed: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Rare are the accounts of rulers who shared opportunity for abundance with the governed.

The socialist philosophers of the Nineteenth Century truly believed that government could be benevolent and effective in equitably distributing wealth if government owned the means of production and if leadership was elected by the people. The Twentieth Century has not demonstrated that this hypothesis is true. Not only does elected leadership succumb in due course to its own self-interest, but the electorate quickly learns to vote its own pocketbook to the exclusion of the "greater good." Communism, the extreme of socialist organization, although propounded with noble intent, caused such disincentive to personal endeavor and initiative during seventy years of power in the USSR, that the country is largely unable to feed itself as it attempts transition to a free market economy.

But does the decline of socialism truly herald the triumph of capitalism and free market economies as the utopian wave of the future? I believe not! Not only are the "have nots" increasing at a disproportionate rate the world over, but we must now add Planet Earth, itself, along with its species and natural processes, to the list of the endangered and disenfranchised. This latter environmental concern was not a part of the issue when the capitalist/communist debate was framed earlier in the century. It is, however, a vital issue in any modern theory of social order.

Rampant capitalism and free markets are creating a new power elite that controls the production of goods and services, democracy notwithstanding. Control of the money markets has increasingly been captured by entrepreneurs who comprise considerably less than one-tenth of 1% of the population. The personal fortunes and investment capital controlled by this unelected elite is staggering. Elected officials gravitate into a moneyed sphere of influence as naturally as breathing. It would appear that a moneyed oligarchy, a defacto shadow government, is arising in the midst of western democratic institutions. There is no evidence that its priorities include social betterment, but rather just the acquisition and preservation of money and power. Whatever the ills and failures of socialist theories, they served as an important counter argument in the Twentieth Century to the notion that "trickle down" is the best way to provide for those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder. Now no credible counter argument exists as nations vie for greater economic power through free market competition.

Is there a solution for this condition? Were a solution dependent only on a desire to better the lives of that majority of the world's population which exists near or below the poverty level, the answer likely would be NO. History provides no evidence that a spirit of altruism is destined to sweep through the halls of political power sufficient to eliminate world hunger and poverty. But, given the modem phenomenon that the world's disadvantaged keep expanding into wilderness to eke out an existence coupled with industrialization consuming an ever greater portion of resources to satisfy its markets, the question of the Planet's ability to survive this onslaught comes into question.

Whereas for forty-five years civilization has lived with the question: "Can the planet survive a nuclear confrontation between the capitalist and communist systems?", it now must ask: "HOW LONG CAN EARTH SURVIVE AN UNOPPOSED, UNREGULATED, CAPITALIST, FREE MARKET SYSTEM?" The answer is: "Not very long." This concern is not really new but has been previously masked by the greater preoccupation with East/West confrontation.

The solutions to the problem must fall into two broad categories:

Distribution of resources and economic opportunity so that the disadvantaged are not as tempted to prey upon nature and their neighbors to assure their own survival.
Massive education on the necessity of protecting the global ecological system before it is irreparably damaged.

Inherent in this approach is the assumption that the human species, particularly the minority with the most to lose, is capable of looking beyond its immediate self-interest and acting responsibly in concert toward the greater long range good. Admittedly that is a dubious assumption. But without it no solution seems possible.

Karl Marx was wrong when he believed there was a natural order in the progression from capitalism to socialism to communism. The natural order, if one exists, is more likely the reverse as education makes individuals more able to cope with the complexities of an evolving technological civilization. But an additional step must be added beyond unfettered entrepreneurship. It is the sense of personal and social responsibility that must go with economic freedom. Laissez Faire capitalism must give way to enlightened, cooperative, self-interest where self-interest is understood in the larger context that all life is inextricably interconnected. One is not free unless all are free, one is not secure unless all are secure. And above all, our planet, Earth, must be protected against the wear, tear, and abuse of its large and growing human family.

The enlightened individual has no need to accumulate vast power or wealth, understanding instead that peace and happiness are states of mind attainable through mastering the self, not the outside world. Unless the power structure which currently controls most of the world's resources reams this lesson and helps steer political systems into a greater sense of ecological responsibility, capitalism will also fail. Entrepreneurship and innovation are indeed the vital ingredients by which civilization advances. But so is a vision of the future and today that vision must look decades in advance-not just to next quarter's profits.

Edgar D. Mitchell, Sc D., Captain, USN (retired) is an explorer, test pilot, entrepreneur, lecturer, and author. During the Apollo 14 Lunar expedition in 1971, Captain Mitchell was the Lunar Module Pilot and became the sixth man to walk on the moon. In 1973, he founded the institute of Noetic Sciences, a foundation which investigates the nature of consciousness. He is also co-founder of the Association of Space Explorers, which counts as members space pioneers from 18 nations. His doctorate is from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, plus numerous other awards and honorary degrees. Currently, Dr. Mitchell lives in Boca Raton, Florida and is an executive with a marketing company.