[print-me]
It appears that a key strategy of the Trump campaign is to call all Democratic candidates “socialists“. On the Democratic side, it appears that among the party’s most extreme left wing, being classified as a “socialist” is a badge of honor and anyone embracing “capitalism” is viewed with suspicion at best and more commonly with contempt. Since the long-term objective of this Internet Technology focused blog series hosted here at UnitedWithCode is to introduce and promote the new 21st Century “3rd Way” “Techie Democratic Capitalist” , examining these terms “socialist/capitalist” and “socialism/capitalism” is warranted.
As an example of how emotionally charged being labeled either a “capitalist” or “socialist” is, consider the following two images:
First, consider this web-banner from the https://climateandcapitalism.com/ web-site. This web-site equates capitalism to barbarism:
Next consider this equally impassioned attack on socialism…. by Winston Churchill! Who can argue with Winston?!
Therefore, being labeled as a “socialist” or “captialist” seem to matter. With this said, time must be spent reviewing the nuances of these terms. This is what this post attempts to do. At the end of this post, the conclusion will be: socialism and capitalism are not mutually exclusive. We currently live in a hybrid socialist/capitalist society here in America. All nations in the European Union are also hybrid socialist/capitalist nations. For example, if the socialist Bernie Sander’s Medicare for All system is adopted in the US, this will not make America a “socialist” country. We may have a socialist healthcare system while many other parts of the nation will continue to operate under capitalist principles.
Two Different Flavors of Socialism
(1) Soviet Style Socialism: the former USSR (It is this form of socialism that Winston Churchill was referring to in his quote above.)
(2) Scandinavian Socialism: Norway, Denmark Sweden (This is the type of socialism Bernie Sanders embraces). While this form of socialism is internationally recognized, there are conservative thinkers who now refuse to call Scandinavian Socialism real “socialism”: https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-of-scandinavian-socialism/
Four Different Flavors of Capitalism
(1) Crony Capitalism
(2) Laissez Faire Capitalism
(3) Democratic Capitalism – This is Pete Buttigieg’s form of capitalism. Here are two articles on Pete’s views on: (1) capitalism in general, (2) capitalism on the 21st century, (3) the negative aspects of capitalism and finally (4) his view of what he personally supports: “democratic capitalism”
(4) Techie Democratic Capitalism As Internet technologies evolve with Cloud Computing, high speed 5G networks, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics and finally Artificial Intelligence (AI), the effects on capitalism will be profound. These changes provide an opportunity to empower individuals all over the world within a framework of “techie democratic capitalism” . This argument will be made in a future blog post. Stay tuned to this UnitedWithCode blog series!!!
Here is a great article on how socialism is viewed in a Trump friendly county in Pennsylvania written by Christian Science Monitor’s Harry Bruinius:
Here are two powerful contrasting photos from this article:
Here is a follow up C-SPAN interview on the author of the article above on the subject of exactly what “socialism” means:
AUGUST 10, 2019
Harry Bruinius on Socialism and Campaign 2020
Christian Science Monitor’s Harry Bruinius discussed his piece about his conversations with swing country voters in Pennsylvania about socialism.
Finally, here is a graph from Yahoo! Finance rating the 2020 Democratic candidates on a socialist/capitalist spectrum. Note the very first sentence of the article this graph is displayed in states, “Sen. Elizabeth Warren insists she’s a capitalist who “sees the value of markets.”
Source of the graph below: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/here-are-the-most-socialisticand-most-capitalistic-democrats-running-for-president-190000240.html
Conclusion: While there may be another exact and precise time when the United States became a hybrid of Capitalism and Socialism, the nation was most certainly a hybrid from the time of the FDR administration going forward.
As both Capitalism and Socialism continue to evolve and adapt as society changes at many levels, we must avoid becoming too ideologically rigid and claim to be either a socialist or a capitalist. The reality is: almost all of us are at least a little bit of both. I know I am and I am not ashamed of it. In fact, I personally identify with a new form of capitalism that I have named myself: a “techie democratic capitalist”. Yup, I am a “techie democratic capitalist” that believes in the immense power of Internet technology – cloud services, high-speed 5G networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and more – to profoundly change our civilization and most certainly our economic conditions. I will supply more details on exactly what I mean by being a “techie democratic capitalist” in a future blog post. For now, I am comfortable to say that I think at least three 2020 Presidential Democratic candidates would clearly understand what I mean by classifying myself as a “techie democratic capitalist”: John Delaney, Pete Buttigieg and Andrew Yang.
