It's not as if what I'm advocating for could simply just pop into existence and become predominant. It would exist within the pre-existing context of the institutions we already have, and to me it is more of a cultural shift than a structural ideological one.

I think duty based ethical/moral systems are in practice passed down through generational trauma. It's all about what you need to do to get by, or live up to an ideal (an existing precedent.) Pretty common story across cultures:

Fail to live up to expectations -> shame and insecurity -> stress -> emotional outbursts and unhealthy coping -> rhetorical justification for unhealthy behavior, which even becomes common at the cultural level.

So the idea of right and wrong as it relates to our positive moral duties actually creates unhealthy behavior and the conditions for people to be more insecure and defensive and less empathetic. Helping people to realize this is therapeutic at the individual level. It helps people to love themselves as they are. So why not promote it at the familial level, or the communal level?

I am not against a punitive justice system which enforces common negative moral prohibitions, don't kill people, don't steal, etc. I am mainly focused on critiquing positive moral obligations which in practice restrict peoples freedom more than negative ones, because they obligate you to use large portions of your time in a certain way, and they create people with an insecure sense of self worth. Which does not help them function. And we learn this all from a very young age when we are taking all our cues from our parents.

Now, at the end of the day, even if we are not morally obligated to make a living, we would much rather be financially stable than financially insecure or homeless. But wouldn't you rather live in a family and culture which was not full of finger pointing, shame, and inability to cope with things like sickness, mental illness or bad fortune? Our ideas about "duty" break down in the face of the complexity of life, but that doesn't stop people from guilting and berating each other in moments of weakness and vulnerability.

If it were that simple, we would be in a better place by now. Everything you've said has already been articulated, and societies and movements have tried to live by those principles and failed time and time again to create life affirming communities.

The "collective" can be just as harmful as the individual, and it should not be unconditionally romanticized and glorified. People live emotionally repressed lives in collectivist, moralizing societies. This is part of Nietzsche's (imo, totally valid critique) critique of Christianity and Liberalism.

We need to move beyond objective, moralizing language and embrace vulnerability and subjectivity. I can feel the undertones of resentment in your comment - your righteousness and hatred is obvious.

People need to be able to embrace a bit of selfishness, egoism and expression. Muzzling human nature is a lost cause which leads to dysfunctional dystopias. We have to work with it, not against it. We need to build a culture in which it can find a healthy expression.

Unfortunately capitalism and Liberalism are the closest we have come to this, but they are still moralizing and soul crushing, placing a heavy burden of duty on people. They rely on ruthlessly shaming all burnout and failure and hiding suffering from public view.

But it is not greed which is the problem, it is the complex psychological trap of "duty" and a responsibility to participate in exploitative public life. All of morality is just a bunch of scared angry monkeys desperately trying to hold it all together and maintain their standard of living. That's all it is. But people objectivize it and internalize it, instead of unconditionally loving themselves like an animal should. It's really that simple - we should love ourselves in a totally selfish and uncomplicated way, like a cat would.

We don't need morality and shame - we have empathy. Obviously there are natural psychopaths, but if we really had our shit together they would not be a problem. It's only around 1% of people, they could be checked by a community of healthy people.

Hope you break out of the psychological prison of Christian morality.