[Redbook1:246-247][19720604:1533]{Ant
and Owl}[4th June 1972]
19720604.1533
We have
been conned over the last thirty years: wool has been pulled over our eyes to
such an extent that we have come to believe that co-operation among people is a
sign of decadence whereas the most primitive law of the jungle, the survival of
the individual at the expense of the pack of individuals, is paramount. Individuals are the basis of Society and
should be of Government, but for that very reason we cannot let the provision
of the basic welfare of individuals rest in the hands of individuals to the
extent that the interests of the pack suffer.
We must try
to find a medium between the Ant and the Owl.
That ‘medium’ will vary from one aspect of society to the other. While as consumers we all wish to be Owls, we
demand that our suppliers should be Ants.
But consumption and supply are too closely related to allow such a
division; and we have neither the tolerance nor motivation of the Ant nor the
self-reliance of the Owl.
Capitalism
and private enterprise have only existed in the extent to which we now see them
for a very short time. They are by no
means the ‘natural’ state of man as a social animal. The safeguards to private enterprise provided
by the law should show us that successful capitalism can only be a controlled
short-cut to quick development. When, as
recently, it begins to sever those ties which bind and sustain man as a social
animal, we must ask: is it still worth it?
(This is not an argument for Nationalisation: I am concerned not
with the detailed means, but with the whole purpose of human technical
development.)
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