calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| Capitalism, with its emphasis on decision-making by individuals and non-governmental corporations, encourages free thought and independent action. People accustomed to making valid choices about how much bath soap to make, or to order for their store, begin to wonder about why they don't get to have a say in how a local park is going to be redeveloped. Successful capitalists begin to take on the government directly.
Socialism, with its emphasis on central planning and decision-making, discourages independent thought and action, and as such provides a natural partner for totalitarian governments.
It is true that some totalitarian governments have allowed or encouraged some degree of capitalism--Hitler's prewar Germany had some degree of capitalism (if you weren't Jewish, for example) and Putin's current Russia has a good deal of capitalism, until the capitalists begin to criticize the government (as in the Yukos saga.)
Likewise, some democracies have varying degrees of socialism--Sweden is often thought to be significantly socialist, and socialized medicine is present in various democratic countries.
Capitalism doesn't "equal" democracy and freedom, it just encourages it.
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
