Ironically, the existence of the word “retirement” carries the very implications that have pushed me to unsubscribe from capitalist ideology. For most, retirement connotes a state of freedom, where you don’t have to work in order exist and do things you enjoy full-time. Not that any of us are entitled to do things we enjoy full-time, but it feels almost sinister that so many of us have to toil for basic survival amenities (food, water, shelter). How did society get to the point where we practically can’t exist anywhere without having to pay someone rent, and we have an array of bills just to be considered an active participant?

It’s been the same cause since the beginning of civilization: ego-fueled control. When people can’t find a way to elevate themselves by looking inward, they look outward to elevate themselves above others. This behavior has driven conquest since the beginning of time. And in many ways- it’s natural- as the ego is chiefly concerned with itself. It’s wiring that’s a double-edged sword-- a sense of scarcity that was once crucial for survival devolved into a desire to control our environment, as soon as survival wasn’t a threat. All the sudden, other people are the target for control.

There’s no more sophisticated system for controlling others than capitalism. Systems like monarchies and oligarchies are flawed through their vanity. When people can clearly see who’s controlling them, it’s easy for people to target the controllers. But when money represents control like in capitalism, there’s nowhere to place targets other than nebulous collectives like ‘the rich’ and ‘the elite’. Enabling members of those collectives to discreetly impose their power.

There’s nothing that fuels the ego more than power. But for power to exist, there has to be an imbalance of control. So in capitalism, there has to be a larger lower class for there to be an upper class. When you stop and think about it, it’s really sad that some people would want others to have less so that they can have more. Although, I suppose it’s nothing more than a maladaptation of human nature. A maladaptation that has caused people in the upper tiers of control to use capitalism as a trojan horse for the masses-- a mechanism of control disguised as a source of meaning.

The capitalistic elite stand to gain plenty from brainwashing the masses that their purpose is to work and consume. They’ve used media and culture to turn the unemployed into outcasts and high-earners into royalty. Even more lauded are the high-spenders, who spend to buy countless material badges to capture their valor in the gladiatorial ring of capitalism. Having more badges than one’s neighbor gives one a sense of superiority, even if artificially created by the capitalist overlords. But a sense of superiority becomes essential when one derives their worth externally instead of internally. Here we see outlines of the trap-- we’re in a system that’s fueled off of people working for external validation. Not only do we have to work to survive, but we have to work in order to purchase self worth.

Then, if we’re lucky, one day we get to rest. That is- if we serve long and honorably enough in the trenches of materialism, we get to retire. Oh the glory. Your peers will look at you with envy as you no longer have to shuffle through undesirable tasks every day to support survival.

When you think about it, the system has evolved to a point where people are not only ill equipped to survive without the system but harassed when they try to survive without it. To me, this disposition does not make up for the many positive innovations and conveniences that the system provides. Indeed, I would go as far to suggest that capitalism has supplanted man’s more abstract and wholesome sense of meaning with an extractive labyrinth composed of control.

When everyone you know chooses to walk the labyrinth, it can seem like there’s no choice or hope. Especially when some proudly tout their progress in a way that insists you should navigate it like them. But we always have a choice. We can always act, and in most cases- a small action for something we believe in feels better than a big one for something we don’t.

Clearly, I don’t believe that capitalism (in its current state) in America is healthy for people, so I’ve chosen to act. I’ve chosen to retire from capitalism and focus on helping people find their way back to a more wholesome sense of humanity.