"Capitalism is not, as we’re often led to believe, a free-market system. We have this view of capitalism that is nice, decentralized system where markets decide who gets what… Capitalism means more markets… Capitalism is actually a highly centralized system that rests not just on markets but also on centralized planning—an authoritarian, hierarchical, oligarchic system where a few people at the very top of society decide who gets what." I didnt realize capitalism wasnt a free market. After reading this article, l have to adjust my definition of it.
“Capitalism” is the Marxist name for the free enterprise, free markets endeavors of free men. Why use the enemy’s definition for your preferred system? If you let your enemies define what you think or do, you are in a trap of their making!!
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The term was meant to be ugly, but the definition "private ownership of the means of production" is perfectly acceptable.
A particularly powerful method of argumentation is to grant your opponent their premises and still show that they're wrong.
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Wouldn’t that be a proof by contradiction? I do not like giving the enemy the basic premises if they have been twisting the words. If you accept their premises, you are accepting their twisted definitions. If you accept their definitions you are accepting their trap.
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It's a variety of proof by contradiction. It's called accepting a premise "ad arguendo" (for the sake of argument). If you can show that even on their own terms their arguments fail, then there's no leg left for them to stand on.
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I understood that. My objection is to even consider using their definition for words. That is one of their main weapons: changing definitions. They have been changing the meaning of words to the opposite of what they mean, ala Eric Blair. I am never ready to concede left is right, right is wrong (and vise versa) or down is up.
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Sure, but like you said, they invented this term.
They may try to change the original definition, now that the original meaning yielded the wrong results. However, I'm perfectly comfortable embracing "private ownership of the means of production" as the proper basis for civilization.
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As everyone should be!! However the communists do not embrace any kind of definition like this. My wife once told me about sisters: What’s hers is mine, what’s mine is mine. To me this sounded just like a good communist, but only intrafamilial.
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People do say (wrongly) that families are communistic.
Commies don't embrace these definitions anymore, but they did make them and I think they're perfectly fine distinctions to make. They just don't like having been on the wrong side of history (another one of their lines).
Be careful about that quote. The article is refuting that view of "capitalism". The line right after the quote is "This definition is a thoroughly incoherent way of defining capitalism. "
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"This definition is a thoroughly incoherent way of defining capitalism. Grace believes that the system we have right now is actual capitalism but parts of her definition could easily be applied to other systems that are resolutely different." This makes it even more confusing. This is just her definition, not the actual definition, right?
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Correct. It's a common way in which socialists try to pervert the definition of "capitalism" in order to make subsequent strawman arguments against it.
The real distinction is very straightforward: "Socialism" is the state ownership of the means of production and "capitalism" is the private ownership of the means of production.
Private ownership implies a free market economy.
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Perhaps private ownership is the basis in law for “capitalism”. I to prefer the free market (non- interference in markets by the state). It incompasses the private ownership of means of production and also the disposition of those goods. Taxes of any sort are also interference in the market. The owner of the goods should be able to sell for any price, to any person that the owner wishes.
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I tend to think of it as "ownership" meaning "exclusive right to control", which would include making or rejecting proposed trades.
Properly understood "capitalism" and "free markets" are just two sides of the same coin.
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