Democracy, Culture, and Capitalism
Jan 11, 2012
Let's be clear. Democracy is a governing system, the form of which in the United States has supported free expression in the market and business sectors. The United States had the great advantage of timing...as a new nation in the latter part of the 18th century it formed a democratic government along with the convergence of emerging modern economic practices. It was highly beneficial, this convergence, and fueled the progress of a neophyte nation on the global stage. This parallel track is the source for an assumption that runs throughout the citizenry. That assumption often holds democracy and capitalism as equivalent and even partisan...which explains why many citizens have a conflated perspective about two of the largest pillars for the American way of life, democracy and capitalism. This pervasive cultural belief further explains why one hears presidential candidates speak in "cultural"language about what they can do to fix the economy. Capitalism is an economic system based on an individual, a business, or a corporation having "capital" assets. The ability for the individual to obtain capital assets has a higher likelihood in a democratic society which is why America has long been the "land of opportunity". But there is also a reverse side of the capitalist coin. Capitalism requires appropriate regulation to ensure that profits (profits are good) are not morphed in to greedy exploitation. This was, in large part, the basis for the financial collapse that began in the fall of 2008. Gordon Gecko was wrong. Greed is not good and our democracy should not support it. Corporations must make profits and the stock market is a sure sign of the vigor of the U.S. economy, but regulations are actually helpful when used as a tool to make greed and exploitation difficult and subject to prosecution. As corporations increase the spending for presidential candidates the public should get used to hearing campaign promises that challenge the separation of government and capitalism. Of concern for the voting public should be the increasing corporate sponsorship of candidates. This is an increasing threat to democracy as a governing system. (Congress is no better is this respect.) Democracy in the U.S. is visibly under pressure today as it becomes too wedded to the capitalist economic engine. During the early part of the 20th century this same threat surfaced and was dealt with. U.S. democracy cannot be allowed to become an arm of capitalism. Capitalism must remain an arm of the democratic way of life. Both are quintessentially "American" but the two are separate and distinct pillars for the American way of life and should remain so.
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