Reconsruction, Slavery and the Amorality of Economics

The era reconstruction in U.S. history was first and foremost a Black one. It was about the destruction of slavery and it's vestiges and laying the foundation for former Black slaves realized access as positive political and social beings. [I'm not using positive in a good or bad context, but rather in a progressive, forward moving one] so the styming and destruction of gains during reconstruction in the south was essentially the reluctance to see Black people as political and social beings in the positive sense. The Dred Scott case was a precursor.

I say nothing about economical beings because contextually economics is of neither persuasion. There is not diametrically opposed values in economics. One can argue that if one is a slave, meaning in the performance of some sort of economical duty for another without remuneration, then it has to be a negative consequence on the slave and that would be correct. But the emphasis is on consequence. Consequence conditionalizes the nature of the duty in a purely subjective way. It gives it a relative value which is either positive or negative in the political and social sense -- and it is only in the political and social sense that the consequence of economics realized. A slave creates wealth without controlling it. Why is the slave unable to control it? Because of the politics and social structures which define the valuation nature of the produced wealth. This is the amorality of economics.

A quick example. Government in the form of Police seize a drug dealers assets. Assets which as defined by government is ill-gotten. So what is done? Are the assets simply destroyed? Does government say well the money is blood money! Its destroyed many lives so lets destroy it? On the contrary, instead government uses it, government appropriates the assets, and give it a revised political and social value.

This is the crux of the debate with idealism and it's inability in recognizing the inherent amorality of economics.

By Apropos