
% THE CHRISTIAN CASE AGAINST CAPITALISM.  CAPITALISM DISCRIMINATES
% AGAINST CHRISTIANS.  HAWAII WILL STRUGGLE.  GLOBALIZATION.
% HAWAII AS AN OFFSHORE PIRACY CENTER.

All of Mercuriou's opponents were back, their babbling heads arranged
on the TV screen in a montage of boxes, each corner more determined
than the other three to deride the space captain.  Wye babbled nonsense,
unclear to decide if Mercuriou was defending criminals and capitalists
or terrorists and democrats, but absolutely _certain_ that
_these_people_will_not_get_away_with_this_.  Zee, stony and impassive,
understood immediately that democracy itself was under attack, and right
here in the United States of America, no less!  Yet it was Ecks,
red-faced with rage, and with his hand on the mute button, who was
again the first to speak.

Ecks: "A Christian!  So the thief has converted to God!"

Mercuriou: "Look, what I did was wrong, but there's nothing to do now
but move on.  If you don't have any questions about my speech, I'll
just save some radio power now."

This time, he really was reaching for the switch, and there was a
pause longer than the satellite delay.

Ecks: "You seem to have quite an electronic library built up, Captain.
I'd like to suggest a book called _The_Wealth_of_Nations_."

Mercuriou: "There's a copy on Gutenberg."

He produced a tablet computer and began reading from Chapter 2.

Mercuriou:   "In almost every other race of animals, each individual, when it is
   grown up to maturity, is entirely independent, and in its natural
   state has occasion for the assistance of no other living creature. But
   man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it
   is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will
   be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his
   favour, and shew them that it is for their own advantage to do for him
   what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any
   kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall
   have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it
   is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part
   of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the
   benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our
   dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address
   ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never
   talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages. Nobody
   but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his
   fellow-citizens."

Mercuriou: "Now, is this what we're taught by Christ?  Is this moral?"

Ecks: "What's immoral about asking people to pay what something cost to
produce?"

Mercuriou: "'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' or
appeal to 'self interest' and 'self-love'?"

Ecks: "I'm no theologian; you can direct your religious questions to
the Reverend!  I want to know what's immoral about asking people to
pay what something costs?"

Mercuriou: "Well you can't get away from the religious questions!
That's the whole point!  It's a _moral_ issue!  We are taught by
Christ made generosity a lifestyle, not an option!"

Ecks: Ecks shuffled some papers.  "So we're just supposed to give away
everything we've got, eh?"

Mercuriou: "No, but sometimes we must do that.  It is not _based_ on
that, though.  It's based on love, generosity being just one of its
most obvious forms."

Ecks: "Most people have different ideas, Captain.  Most people think
that they can be good, generous hard-working citizens, expect that of
others, and still allocate their own finances."

Mercuriou: "Hidden here is the assumption that everyone lives that way!
If someone adopts the Christian lifestyle instead, she is clearly at a
'competitive disadvantage' because she no longer has the resources
that are so critical to adjust and balance those finances."

Ecks: "Well, if they don't want money, if they don't want the
advantages of capitalism..."

Mercuriou: "It doesn't matter; capitalism is _unfair_!  It
discriminates against people who are generous, and it discriminates
against Christians!  You've built a society that rejects Christian
principles, discriminates against Christians, and then claims to offer
religious freedom!"

% MERCURIOU DOESN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THEFT; ECKS DOESN'T WANT TO TALK
% ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

Ecks: "We don't discriminate against Christians!  We don't arrest or
execute them, either; some countries do!  If some deluded 'Christian'
wants to sleep under a bridge, let him!  I wonder if that's true
Christianity, though.  I don't know.  I want to talk about your
screwball secession plan!  First came your idiotic Martian Republic,
and now this!  How will Hawaii survive without the mainland?  Where
will your computers come from, or is everyone going back to eating
poi?"

Mercuriou: "Hawaii will struggle, but she needs to be independent.
Not just politically, but economically, too.  States and nations need
economic independence, or political independence means little.  Reject
globalization!  Don't chase efficiency through mass economies because
then few places actually develop their own technology.  Aim for global
economic independence!  That means nations producing their own
computers, cars, buildings and factories.  Hawaii will achieve that
first for herself, and then lead the rest of world!"

Ecks: "Sounds to me like you want to steal Hawaii and turn it into an
offshore piracy haven, where criminals can steal our technology with
impunity!  How can we compete with a bunch of thieves?!?"

Mercuriou: "You won't be able to compete because your product is
inferior.  What 'globalization' offers the world is a simple deal --
find something to sell, and in exchange you'll get our closed, secret,
proprietary technology that we control.  I'll offer them something
better -- all the software, the chip masks, the factory blueprints --
everything they need to build their own computers, their own cell
phones, their own data networks.  Now, which of these two 'products'
do you think our 'customers' will prefer?"

Ecks: "You do that with your technology, not ours!"

Mercuriou: "And live in the dark ages because you control all the
copyrights for the last 70 years?  Forget it!"

Ecks: "We'll stop you!  We'll stop you!"

Mercuriou: "Go ahead!  Stop us!  Get tough!  Go to war!"

Ecks: "I just can't... I can't believe that an American citizen would
push his own country to the brink of civil war.  I can't believe that
any _patriotic_ American would do that."

Mercuriou started laughing.

Mercuriou: "You're too much!  All your talk about the heroes
who sacrifice their lives for the sake of freedom!  That's what it
comes down to?  We sacrifice when somebody else's neck is in the block
and then play safe when it's our own?"

Ecks: "You don't believe in those heros, _Captain_!  You mock them with
your voice!"

Mercuriou: "Believe in them!  I'm one of them!  I'm willing to fight
for my freedom!  I'm just doing it right here in America, that's all!"

Ecks: "Why someplace nice like Hawaii?  Why not Alaska?"

Mercuriou: "Alaska can secede, too!"

Ecks started screaming.

Ecks: "Get out!  Don't go to Hawaii!  Get out!! Just get the hell out!!"
