Daily Archives: June 12, 2003


More What is Capitalism

Decnavda discusses some things that ‘liberals’ might do to re-establish their power:

I believe that Americans are attracted to the Republican ideas of self-reliance, enterprise, and opportunity for advancement. One problem is that too many liberals seem to agree that those ARE Republican ideas, and liberalism is framed as the government taking care of people and helping to equalize the outcomes of market forces. This is because most of our intellectuals are watered-down socialists. As a result, we seem to have conceded that Republican capitalism is the true capitalism.
It does not have to be this way. Rather than only taking care of the masses, the government could empower them. Rather than equalize outcomes, we can redistribute wealth to equalize opportunities. Successful past wealth redistribution plans, such as the Homestead Act, the G.I. Bill, and subsidized home mortgages, have given the poor opportunity and capital in form of land, homes, and education.
Liberals should not fight capitalism, we should reclaim it for the masses.

Well, some of this is right. The republican capitalism certainly bears little resemblance to true capitalism. However, none of the proposals above have anything to do with capitalism. Perhaps the last sentence should read something like:

We should reclaim the meaning of classical liberalism and bring capitalism back to the masses.

By the way, if you are at all interested in tax law Decnavda has a lot of good stuff for you.

Oh, and Decnavda does not appear to have any permalinks. The above post is the only on on June 11.