We need to educate voters that capitalism is the best economic system ever developed, but it must be Democratic capitalism.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not “socialist” programs. They are essential ingredients of a capitalist economy that works as intended. Entitlements such as these compensate for the unavoidable disasters of fate and the inevitable failures of a free market to adequately reward honest work.
In the same way, minimum wages and government protections of the rights of labor to organize and collective bargain are not “communist” actions. They are essential to the development and maintenance of a thriving middle class in a capitalist economy. Labor legislation, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, gave more balance in the power relationship between employers and workers. Workers actually were enabled to get a fairer share of their own productivity. Result: less money was hoarded in bank accounts and more money entered the economy.
Regulations of the financial industry restrained the ruinous risk taking of overly ambitious bankers. Federal minimum environmental standards prevented corporations from transferring some of their costs of production onto the taxpayer (toxic waste cleanup and loss of natural resources). Progressive income taxes ensured that those who benefitted most from our country’s economy, infrastructure, and federal fiscal policies also paid the most to support them.
Closet aristocrats and pseudo-capitalism
Throughout our entire history, closet aristocrats have used “capitalism” as a cover for their support of an economy that creates a business class of royalty. Their pseudo capitalism always comes at the expense of everyone lower on the economic ladder. Since 1980 they’ve been increasingly successful, and their plans to “save” entitlements like Social Security are to fundamentally change their nature.
When progressive Democrats talk of reforming entitlements, they’re talking about eliminating fraud and waste, and making sure the programs benefit the citizens they are supposed to.
On the other hand, when Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats talk about reforming entitlements, they are talking about reducing or eliminating benefits, even to those who need them. In other words, they want to eliminate the entitlements’ historical roles in making our capitalist system successful. In their view, entitlement expenses (taxes) lessen their ability, and divine right, to enjoy their royalty status.
If the voting public was ever confused which politicians actually believe in true capitalism (one that works as it did for most of the past century when America built its middle class)—and which ones are closet aristocrats—recent Congressional debates should have removed all doubt.