General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Capitalism is NOT a dirty word. [View all]Laelth
(32,017 posts)A thread appeared on DU earlier today suggesting that we should "make capitalism a dirty word." This thread is a response to that one. Personally, I think it makes us look stupid and naive to act as if capitalism were a dirty word (and that's because most of us are capitalists--whether we like the word or not). Liberalism, I and others have argued, is a political philosophy that seeks to protect capitalism from its own excesses (and prevent a bloody revolution). If that's the case, liberals are capitalists, or, at the very least, defenders of the capitalist system, and why shouldn't we be? FDR and LBJ liberalism made us the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth, and, prior to the Reagan revolution, the nation with the highest standard of living on Earth. If that's liberal capitalism at work, I'll take it.
-Laelth