Mercuriou: "Well, I've 'learned my lesson'!  I've figured how to 'get
things done' in the 'real world'!  I've learned to 'compete'!  You
crow on about rewarding people for their hard work!  I couldn't begin
to build this ship without stealing it!  Where's my reward?  Why do
you have to become either a capitalist or a thief to get this kind of
opportunity?"



Ecks: "Again, it comes down to a simple principle, captain - freedom!
The businessman does not dictate to his stockholders how they should
spend their money.  Instead, the businessman collects revenue from his
customers, uses those revenues to pay the expenses of the business,
and then returns the surplus both to the employees in the form of
bonuses and to the investors in the form of dividends.  It is then up
to the employees and investors how to spend _their_money_.  If they
wish to give to charities, they can do so.  Furthermore, the
businessman has a moral responsibility to operate his business
responsibly, because it _isn't_his_money_."

Mercuriou: "Isn't his money?!"

Ecks: "That's right, captain.  It's the shareholder's money.  For the
businessman to simply give it away as you suggest would amount to
taxation without representation, or to put it more bluntly, theft.
Many capitalists are good, decent people who have founded charities,
started schools and universities, established endowment funds...  Your
ideas sound very noble and idealistic, but how do you put them into
practice?  Force them on people with the government, right?  That's
what it always comes down to.  Look, let's take a break now and I'll
introduce our next guest when we return."

Mercuriou: "Is is time for the 'democratic response'?"


==================

"See this is what people like you don't understand about capitalism.
It gives people opportunity..."

------

Ecks is going to pull out the line about "work", and Mercuriou's
answer will be "Let's just cut right to the chase and shortcut this debate.
'Work' becomes 'making money'.  There's lots of work you can do..."



Liberalism makes people lazy.  Work this in somewhere (probably Ecks)

------


won't work for these bums, you'll be put homeless on the street and
all these great, decent people will sneer at you as they walk past and
call you a bum without saying a word!"


------

One can't live without sustaining oneself.

In one sense, this is obviously true - if most of us don't contribute
meaningfully in some way, we'll all starve.

Let's face it - we live in a society where
we are FORCED to work.  You're not sustaining yourself; you're doing
what you are FORCED to do by an oppressive and immoral society!

Freedom - can you give people the freedom to choose their own work?

------

and all this bullshit about your "competitors"?!  Who are these people
They're your colleagues, right?  They're the people doing the same
kind of things you're doing, but instead of helping each other, you
try to bust each other's bank account.

-----

Implicit in his argument is the assumption everyone lives that way!


-----


Ecks: We need to lower taxes and get rid of government regulation on
private enterprise.

Mercuriou: Then you'll be right back to where you were a hundred years
ago, with massive pollution, key industries run into the ground by
monopolies.

-----


Mercuriou: You're damn right I've got a problem with authority!  I've
got a problem with authority when the people in authority are just a
bunch of self-serving creeps!  Now why couldn't we have just put that
program up on the network?  What is so terrible about that?



-----

Mercuriou: "_Freedom_?  You'll be remembered for _secrecy!_ The books,
the blueprints, the source code, the circuit diagrams, the
manufacturing processes!  All kept secret by these capitalists
determined to enslave the world under 'globalization'!  They want
'freedom'...  they want their _own_ freedom!"


------




Ecks: "Captain, you seem to think everyone has to do things your way!
Those authors, those designers, they could give everything away like
you suggest, they have that power, they have that _right_!"

Mercuriou: "I am so sick of hearing about people's 'rights'!  Whenever
I hear that word, the next thing I start figuring is 'who's getting
screwed'..."

Ecks: "It's called _freedom_."

Mercuriou: "Freedom?  What freedom?  Under capitalism?  The freedom to
starve if you won't work when you're told?  The lion and the
wilderbeast both have 'freedom', Congressman..."

Ecks: "Captain, if you don't work, you will not starve, because just
about every American city has a soup kitchen or homeless shelter of
one kind of another.  On the other hand, those who do work can expect
to be paid for their labor, and it is entirely up to them what they do
with it.  The abundance of charities in this country is an elegant
testimony to the generosity of the American people."

Mercuriou: "Sounds great.  Sound like everywhere you go in the U.S, you
must see charity after charity after charity, and occasionally a
business."

Ecks: "There's nothing wrong with running a business.  Where do you
think all that money comes from for those charities?"

Mercuriou: "OK, if those businesses are so generous, why bother with
the price tags?"



Ecks: "I know, I know, everyone who wants to make money is trash,
everyone who wants a better life for their children is a creep..."

