What Does It Look Like
What exactly is Capitalism
Capitalism is a social-economic system that was born of the 18th century Enlightenment. It's organic in nature in the sense that is grew out of the idea that an individual has a right to their own life and that they didn't need the sanction or permission of any higher authority--the king, the church, society, the tribe, etc.--to act or to keep the fruits of their actions.
The idea of capitalism is that all property is privately owned and this springs from the idea that each individual owns their own mind and body, that these things are inviolable. The only way one can violate the rights of any individual is by using physical force, hence George Washington's clear understanding of the identity of government: "Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire; a dangerous servant and a terrible master."
Photo courtesy Bobbie Carlyle’s “Self Made Man” http://bobbiecarlylesculpture.com
What Does it Look Like?
One question that comes up in defending capitalism is the question of what it really looks like to have laissez faire. There are many misinformed people who say, 'look at all the failures of capitalism and unfettered free markets. We can't have all these individuals doing what they want. Look what they've done to our economy'.'
You ask some questions like, 'What exactly is Capitalism' and 'What is the relationship between economic freedom and political freedom' and 'Can we have one without the other' And then you define capitalism by its essentials: a socioeconomic system that recognizes and protects individual rights where all property is privately owned. You show how economic freedom and political freedom are joined at the hip and that any attempt to have one without the other is just another example of the age-old mind/body dichotomy.
So then you show them how we've not had anything close to capitalism in the US for at least 100 years. You point out the fact that many of our major industries are heavily regulated by the government ' over 45 cents of every healthcare dollar is controlled by the government, along with having many wage and price controls, the most important prices in the economy - interest rates (the price of money) - are controlled by the Federal Reserve, risk-taking is distorted by FDIC and 'too big to fail' policies, housing is subsidized and distorted by manipulations of the tax code, primary education is virtually a monopoly of the state, etc., etc. You show how all of these things are there because of coercive government policies, policies that force behavior in ways that would not occur without such force or threat of force.
And after many cups of coffee or pints of beer you show how we've not had capitalism at all. We've had a very mixed economy over the lifetime of anyone living today with heavy state intervention in our lives from the day we're born to the day we die. And they finally get it and say, 'Ok, alright, we don't have capitalism but what would it look like if we did'. 'Wouldn't everyone just go crazy without the laws and regulations that we have, wouldn't everyone's sinful nature take over and we'd just be greedy and take advantage of each other and it would be chaos, wouldn't it'?
Now we're getting somewhere because it's at this point that we've moved beyond just the man-made facts out there in the social, political economic world. We've moved the discussion into the 'nature of man' question and we've also gotten them to have a crack in the door that maybe if we haven't had capitalism, then they don't know what it would look or feel like. Now it's a small crack in the door and potentially very disconcerting to think, 'you mean to tell me, we don't need the Fed or public schools or a deduction to influence my decision on owning vs. renting, TARP to save the banks, etc.' But we've gotten them thinking about possibilities. If they are an active minded and honest person, they won't shut that door completely. They'll leave it open for you to help them paint a vision.
Well this is the central issue and question of this segment of our site: What would it look like if there were no tolerance for the initiation of force in our lives as adult citizens. What if the only way someone could get you to do something was to persuade you, to sell you, to appeal to your reasoning mind and to have you say 'why should I do this'? And to have them answer that 'why' question and not resort to any manipulation of state power or else you didn't have to do it. What would it look like on a concrete, day to day, basis to live in a country where the only thing the government did was protect your rights as an individual'
Defenders of capitalism, it may be earlier than we think. However, part of the solution is to start painting the vision of what life under Capitalism looks like.
