Changes

==Capitalism: Conservative concept, but a Conservative word?==

==Capitalism: Conservative concept, but a Conservative word?==

I'd like to make what may seem a perverse argument: that 'capitalism' is a liberal rather than a Conservative term and that its inclusion in this list should perhaps be reconsidered. The concept represented by the word capitalism is indeed at the core of conservatism: as Mr Schlafly has written, an example of the 'hidden hand', and, in its reliance upon individuual initiative rather than state- or party-controlled planning, a great example, perhaps the summation, of that insightful concept 'the best of the public'. My problem is with the word, which seeks to reduce the economic expression of divinely-inspired human freedom into a mere '-ism', a sectarian political concept, one among many, to be disputed and reviled by lesser ideals. Liberals and socialists are swift to blame 'capitalism' for economic and social problems which are almost inevitably of their own making. 'Capitalism' is a handy way for Liberals to create a false bogy with which to hoodwink people: it can be presented as a malign conspiracy by their enemies to undermine the false promises of socialism; it is an '-ism', something that humanity could do away with and exist just as happily, if not more so. Away with such Liberal tommy-rot! What they call 'capitalism' is freedom, no more and no less; and if one substitutes 'freedom' for 'capitalism' in the Liberal outpourings the falseness of their arguments becomes manifest. The 'capitalist system' - what thinking people call liberty - is the default condition of society: trade and enterprise flourish, and have flourished, in all societies where the smothering hand of socialism is unknown. Freedom - prefixed perhaps by 'economic' if necessary for lucidity, should be the term used. Let ''freedom'' be the antithesis of socialism, and consign 'capitalism' to the dustbin of leftist terminology. [[User:Guyw|Guyw]] 10:58, 15 February 2010 (EST)

I'd like to make what may seem a perverse argument: that 'capitalism' is a liberal rather than a Conservative term and that its inclusion in this list should perhaps be reconsidered. The concept represented by the word capitalism is indeed at the core of conservatism: as Mr Schlafly has written, an example of the 'hidden hand', and, in its reliance upon individuual initiative rather than state- or party-controlled planning, a great example, perhaps the summation, of that insightful concept 'the best of the public'. My problem is with the word, which seeks to reduce the economic expression of divinely-inspired human freedom into a mere '-ism', a sectarian political concept, one among many, to be disputed and reviled by lesser ideals. Liberals and socialists are swift to blame 'capitalism' for economic and social problems which are almost inevitably of their own making. 'Capitalism' is a handy way for Liberals to create a false bogy with which to hoodwink people: it can be presented as a malign conspiracy by their enemies to undermine the false promises of socialism; it is an '-ism', something that humanity could do away with and exist just as happily, if not more so. Away with such Liberal tommy-rot! What they call 'capitalism' is freedom, no more and no less; and if one substitutes 'freedom' for 'capitalism' in the Liberal outpourings the falseness of their arguments becomes manifest. The 'capitalist system' - what thinking people call liberty - is the default condition of society: trade and enterprise flourish, and have flourished, in all societies where the smothering hand of socialism is unknown. Freedom - prefixed perhaps by 'economic' if necessary for lucidity, should be the term used. Let ''freedom'' be the antithesis of socialism, and consign 'capitalism' to the dustbin of leftist terminology. [[User:Guyw|Guyw]] 10:58, 15 February 2010 (EST)