Peeved
I am really getting annoyed by people who believe that capitalism means democracy.
posted by e-kvetcher at 7:52 PM
Monday, April 20, 2009
About Me
- Name: e-kvetcher
- Location: Chicago Suburbs, Illinois, United States
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -George Bernard Shaw
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5 Comments:
I think it's more the link of free choice and self-determination which exists far more in a capitalist as opposed to a socialist or communist economy
Yeah, except capitalist societies tend towards oligarchy and monopolies which ultimately lead to regulation and trust-busting.
I think it's a matter of hearkening back to historical circumstances.
In my view, the closest thing man has seen to pure capitalism (at least in civilized society), was 19th century USA, especially the second half thereof (before trust busting). This was also a very democratic time (for those social classes that were recognized as full citizens), also possibly the most democratic time in history. Considering that there were no income taxes, no ability for government to spy on it's citizens etc. The meddling of government into our affairs was nothing like today.
It's possible that this historical association is why people associate the two. Although the two did go hand in hand, and were somewhat interdependent on each other at that time, they were more dependent on outside factors that slowly disappeared.
Acher,
Rise of capitalism in Europe (England, France, and Germany) was much more influential in terms of history - the vibe there was very much undemocratic (see the plight of the working class in 19th cent Europe for examples). The US is almost an aberration for its Horatio Alger liek ability to trancend the social class hierarchy, though still pretty bad.
kvetcher,
No arguments here, you're right on the money. Still, I think that at least in America, people do seem to equate the two based on their own history. And in Europe, I don't think people confuse the two, that's why I think my hypothesis makes sense.
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