There is a fascinating interview in the New York Review of Books with historian Michael Kazin from Georgetown University, called The Enduring Power of Moral Capitalism. HIs argument is that the Democratic Party has been committed to the idea of using government to lessen the harsher aspects of capitalism. Part of this interview is behind a pay wall, although for some reason I received it in my email this morning.
This is a quote from the interview:
Kazin believes the political and rhetorical strength of this moral capitalism, as both an “ideal and the party policies it helped to animate,” has been demonstrated time and again at the ballot box. Only “the programs designed to make life more prosperous or, at least, more secure for ordinary people proved capable of uniting Democrats and winning over enough voters to enable the party to create a governing majority that could last for more than one or two election cycles,” he told me. Party leaders, through various periods of economic downturn and social unrest, “understood that most voters saw no alternative to the system of markets and wages but also believed, quite accurately, that the capitalist order failed to produce the utilitarian ideal of the greatest good for the greatest number.”
In order to make systemic change in a two party system there needs for reformers to be connected to one of the two major parties. Only the Democratic Party, according to Kazin, can reformers find a home for such change. Kazin, by the way, was involved in the Students for a Democratic Society when it was first organizing on college campuses. He came to believe that the Democratic Party was the only party capable of bringing about the change he wanted, and has campaigned for every Democratic nominee but Carter’s 1980 campaign since working for McGovern.
Obviously I find his arguments persuasive but I realize that those who have decided that democratic socialism is the way to go may not be persuaded. I offer this article not to engage in arguments but because i find the concept of using the words “moral capitalism” to be more effective in America than the phrase democratic socialism. Hopefully, below is the link:
www.nybooks.com/...