Cooperation

Surrendering to the process of cooperation is a foreign concept to avid free-market capitalists. Competition is the motivator and impediment of a Libertarian capitalist economy. Perhaps this represents a comfortable equilibrium for those at the top of the capital pyramid. Those whose support the wide and onerous base of that pyramid suffer with the consequences of this capitalist competition. Low wages, job insecurity, environmental deterioration...just to name a few. 

Cooperation with a healthy dose of respectful and mindful competition far exceeds hostilely competitive capitalism in its advancements for quality of life. The horrors of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s were prolonged by the competitive model of capitalism in the pharmaceutical industry. Cancer patients today suffer the same fate. Newer treatments are withheld because of the competition between medical institutions and the pharmaceutical industry for patient dollars, tied to government pay-outs. Today's medical advances would be far more breathtaking if a cooperative model were in place rather than a purely competitive one, based on money for research, university capital funds and hospital building funds. 

I invite you to think about situations in your own life which entailed competition or cooperation or a combination of the two. I know from my own experience that opening myself to cooperate with a potential adversary in a situation diffuses potential acrimony and promotes movement away from a crisis to an equitable solution. This tango takes at least two dancers. However, the humanist who is aware of his/her ideals is likely to take the initiative in steering the way to a cooperative solution by heading off the threat of injustice, aggression or violence. Openness, personal truthfulness and compassion are more practical personal characteristics than aggression, selfishness or violence.