Day 186: Competition Makes The World Go Round

One of the subjects I am studying is all about how the South African government functions, specifically within providing goods and services to satisfy the needs of society. Or maybe I should say: how the South African government is supposed to function. Today I was writing my exam notes and I got to a section all about procurement and the regulations around purchasing goods and services for public use. Large purchases are handled by the tender authority and companies offer deals from which the best deal must be chosen - not necessarily according to the lowest offer. One of the regulations around this tenders process is the competition must be encouraged by the tender authority to the businesses bringing their offers.

The fact that our governments are not even aware of the simple fact that competition is what got us into this mess in the first place is disconcerting. The fact that those who have sworn to improve the quality of life for people within a country are willing for thee to be a "winner" and a "loser" is disquieting. The fact that there are so many more "losers" than "winners" is disheartening.

Our way of thinking and living: always doing what will satisfy our own desires and not considering the needs of others or the consequences of our actions; is quite simply, unsustainable. There is no way that our lives will improve on a large scale if all we ever think about is winning and beating our competitors - be they man, beast, plant or earth.

The system runs according to people being either "winners" or "losers" - and so the government is restricted to functioning within that framework. Instead of developing plans of action that would manifest  support for every person so that each one is a "winner", so to speak, we are all stuck in this mindset that there is always a winner and there is always a loser and we must do whatever we are able to do to ensure that we are the winners. The government, which is made up of people, is stuck within this mindset/worldview too: it tries to improve the lives of people within the starting point of there will always be winners and losers, and so every action the government takes is only ever going to support this system of competition. The fact that most of the governments in the world are indebted to some fat cat just to try and keep afloat is indication enough that the governments have no idea how the system works or how to improve it.

Vote for a system that will promote true honest and transparent functioning, a system which will educate each one on how it works. Show your vote for a better future at www.equalmoney.org