Anti-Capitalism is not Communism

and maybe not even anti-capitalism...

I’ve often been accused of being a leftist. Some have even called me a communist. I’m neither. In fact, there are aspects about real capitalism that I quite like. Let’s be clear though, I’m not talking about what the American system calls capitalism. American style capitalism is about as capitalist as communism with Chinese characteristics is communist. Maybe even less so. Also, despite a century of propaganda from many different sides, they are not polar opposites.

Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals or businesses own the means of production (like factories and land) and operate them for profit, with prices and distribution of goods determined by a free market. It's characterized by competition, private property, and the pursuit of profit.

There are some good things in there. Free markets. Where the price of goods and services is determined by supply and demand. That’s not how American markets work. They are regulated and protected and manipulated in a way that makes the playing field anything but level. Those with the wealth make the rules - the evil golden rule - he who has the gold makes the rules. The entire way that business and enterprise are set up and regulated create barriers to entry that protect those who already have an advantage and penalize those who do not. Free competition is what is missing. This is called crony capitalism by some, but I call it exploitation capitalism because what it does is allow those with capital to exploit their advantage to unfairly trade for greater profits.

I’m not anti-profit. I think if you work hard, innovate, and provide something of value you should be able to enjoy benefits from that - not benefits of exploitation but benefits of leisure and although it pains me a bit to say it - benefits of opportunity. This might be through education, bettering your abilities, increasing your access to others through expanding your network, or acquiring cool things or experiences. I think the idea of a completely level playing field is a bad one - we all have different advantages - but we should have ways to put them into play for our benefit. That’s where exploitation capitalism has big big systemic problems. Corporations are set up to be immortal and hoard the benefits of lifetimes of humans, billionaire level wealth allows for advantages that cannot be overcome by those who are not existing on the same strata, inheritance laws allow those who have done nothing but be born to start from a place that is so far above others that they never need worry about competition from those who are born with nothing but an ability to work hard. Tax loopholes, monopolies, and other systemic issues further skew things on the side of the haves at the expense of the have-nots.

And that’s probably the biggest issue. The regular workers and citizens are exploited by the same system that is used to create unfair advantages for the ultra-wealthy and immortal corporations.

I like private property. You should be able to own your home. You should be able to own two homes or maybe three homes - but no one, and no company, should be able to own ten, twenty, a hundred, thousands of homes and properties while others are forced to be exploited by landlords and rentiers. If a government wants to intervene in free markets, it should be on the side of those who have no home, those who have no education, those who have less opportunity, those who are hungry, those who are suffering - not on the side of protecting those who already have a massive economic and societal advantage.

I like the idea of individuals owning the means of production. Not the state, not an immortal corporation, but a person or a cooperative or even a business - but not an immortal corporation that has no loyalty but to shareholders and no ethos beyond pure profit taking.

So - as you can see - I like private property, competition, the pursuit of profit, individuals or coops controlling the means of production. You could actually pretty easily characterize me as a capitalist from all of this. You certainly couldn’t call me a communist because the last thing I would ever advocate for is state control of all of the means of production.

Communism is a political and economic ideology advocating for a society where resources and property are owned and controlled collectively by the community, rather than privately. It envisions a classless society where individuals contribute according to their ability and receive according to their needs, aiming for a state of equality.

Don’t get me wrong. I like community controlled resources and property. Small community, not large government. A municipality should own it’s own parks, have control of the natural resources in it, and it should be members of the community who own, operate, and control business and means of production -not exploitive corporations or billionaires from outside. So, a small farm or a small trucking company or a furniture maker? Individual ownership, awesome. The forest the wood comes from though, the gas that powers the trucks and is pulled from the ground of the area, the big industrial farm - all of that should be owned by the people of the municipality - not by individuals or outsiders. And the profits from all of that big collectively municipal owned resource should be used for the betterment of the people who live in that municipality- including making sure that those who have the least ability to care for themselves are taken care of and have their necessary needs met. This means funding schools, elder care, training programs, food banks.

I don’t like the idea of anyone being forced to contribute. If you want to live at the bare minimum (but still have the dignity of being housed, having medical care, not starving, and having the ability to better yourself through education or training regardless of income) you should be able to do so. The more you work, the the more you get. Clever ideas and innovation get rewarded. There needs to be a hard cap though because when people start becoming billionaires, then we see what we see in America - mass homelessness, generational poverty, people dying from conditions that can easily be cured, starvation. This isn’t pro-capitalism. It’s decidedly anti-human. It’s not communism - it’s responsibility for our communities.

Let’s not kid ourselves. There can never be a human state of equality. People have different abilities and desires. There can, however, be an equality of dignity. We can exist in a place where all humans have a baseline of dignity to start out with - no matter who they are.

So, let’s be clear. I’m not a communist. I’m not a capitalist. I’m anti-exploitation. And as long as exploitation in capitalism and communism continue to exist then I, you, and everyone else - we are all INDIGNIFIED.

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For paid subscribers, I’m including something a little different today. Below the paywall are my thoughts on something controversial.