As expected, many of the terms of which our political universe consists are on display more frequently than usual during this election season.\u00a0 Now, then, is as good a time as any to revisit these time-worn concepts.<\/p>\n
Capitalism<\/em><\/p>\n For some reason, the self-avowed nemeses of the planned economy\u2014whether we call this \u201csocialism,\u201d \u201ccommunism,\u201d or anything else\u2014insist on describing their property arrangements of choice as \u201ccapitalism.\u201d\u00a0 Given that the latter term was coined by collectivists\u2014communists specifically\u2014this is beyond a merely misfortunate <\/em>selection of names.\u00a0 In using the language of their enemies, self-avowed \u201ccapitalists\u201d actually weaken <\/em>their own position.<\/p>\n There are a couple of reasons for this.<\/p>\n For one, the left has been remarkably successful in ensconcing the figure of \u201cthe blood-sucking \u2018capitalist\u2019\u201d in the popular imagination. Not everyone is a doctrinaire leftist, mind you, but the left\u2019s \u201cmarch\u201d through our culture\u2019s institutions\u2014the institution of popular media, specifically\u2014has not been without its effect upon Americans at large.\u00a0 Among the half-baked notions that they have imbibed is this notion of the greedy \u201ccapitalist.\u201d<\/p>\n Second, \u201ccapitalism\u201d is an \u201cism<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 That is, the word denotes a system.\u00a0 <\/em>More specifically, it implies an economic <\/em>system.\u00a0 Within the context of politics, the term \u201csystem\u201d invariably suggests a consciously designed societal blueprint to the subscription of which its architect, government, <\/em>compels the populace.\u00a0 This image is all the more prominent when it is considered that \u201ccapitalism\u201d is located on a continuum with such government-directed economic systems as socialism and communism.<\/p>\n So, the defenders of \u201ccapitalism\u201d can all too easily be misunderstood as championing but another economic plan.\u00a0 <\/em>Worse, <\/em>they lend themselves to being depicted as advocating a plan according to which it is \u201cthe rich,\u201d the \u201ccapitalists,\u201d who will be awarded the lion\u2019s share of \u201cthe economic pie\u201d at the expense of \u201cthe working class.\u201d<\/p>\n Free Enterprise System<\/em><\/p>\n Sometimes the proponents of \u201ccapitalism\u201d speak of America as a \u201cfree enterprise system.\u201d\u00a0 Granted, the latter is a preferable term to the former.\u00a0 Still, though, it is confused.<\/p>\n The United States Constitution barely succeeded in being ratified.\u00a0 Examination of both the quarrels that transpired between anti-Federalists and Federalists as well as the Constitution itself discloses a conception of America that has since fallen on hard times.\u00a0America, according to this understanding, is not any sort of \u201centerprise system\u201d at all, whether \u201cfree\u201d or otherwise.<\/p>\n Any enterprise is distinguished on account of its end, goal, <\/em>or purpose. <\/em>\u00a0War would be a key example of an enterprise.\u00a0 The purpose of war is victory.\u00a0 <\/em>It is this purpose and this purpose alone that unites the participants in a war and renders them joint-enterprisers. During times of war, the only decisions and actions that are approved are those that contribute toward, or at least do not frustrate, the realization of the end of victory. Business would be another illustration of an enterprise.\u00a0 Profit<\/em> is the ultimate purpose of any business and the actors in a business are joint-enterprisers whose actions are expected to serve this end.<\/p>\n The point here is that America was never intended to be any sort of enterprise.\u00a0 In vain will we search the Constitution for a purpose to which the resources of American citizens are to be deployed.\u00a0 What we do <\/em>encounter when we turn to it are the conditions<\/em> necessary for citizens to embark upon the enterprises of their own choosing.\u00a0 <\/em>Put another way, the Constitution\u2014through its wide dispersal of authority and power\u2014provides for the liberty <\/em>that Americans were intended by their progenitors to enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0 But, it is crucial to grasp, this liberty is not <\/em>itself an end or purpose.\u00a0 Rather, it is the indispensable precondition for the pursuit of any and all purposes.<\/p>\n Thus, the self-declared enemies of socialism and other species of economic collectivism should from now on juxtapose with their rivals\u2019 socialism, not <\/em>\u201cthe free enterprise system,\u201d and certainly not \u201ccapitalism,\u201d but, simply, liberty. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n The State and \u2018Statists\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n There are few words that have suffered as much abuse as \u201cthe state.\u201d\u00a0 In spite of the negative connotations that it has come to assume, the word itself is a good one, for it is by far the least misleading name that we can ascribe those sovereign political entities that are the stuff of the modern world.\u00a0<\/p>\n The United Statesis a state.\u00a0 <\/em>Mind you, it isn\u2019t the government <\/em>of the United States that is a state.\u00a0 The state that is America encompasses the latter\u2019s government and<\/em> its culture.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n From this perspective, two things follow.<\/p>\n First, anyone and everyone who isn\u2019t an anarchist is a \u201cstatist.\u201d\u00a0 Second, anti-collectivists should refrain from chiding collectivists for being \u201cstatists\u201d and, instead, simply call them \u201ccollectivists.\u201d<\/p>\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n These are just some of our key political terms that need to be liberated from the ambiguity in which they\u2019ve been cast.\u00a0 This is no merely academic exercise, for how we think depends upon the words we use.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As expected, many of the terms of which our political universe consists are on display more frequently than usual during this election season.\u00a0 Now, then, is as good a time as any to revisit these time-worn concepts. Capitalism For some reason, the self-avowed nemeses of the planned economy\u2014whether we call this \u201csocialism,\u201d \u201ccommunism,\u201d or anything…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n