If Somebody Criticizes Capitalism Doesn't that make them a Socialist?

Question

I mean, since Capitalism has a flawless record for economic performance environmental management and social justice all the way back to the dawn of time, and socialist governments have invariably failed in every sense within seconds of being established, and we all know these are the only two forms of government theoretically possible, doesn't all the name calling just make sense?

Answer 1

Oh - you know that these are the only two forms of government possible??

Answer 2

to the extent you have communism, you have shortages, oppression, slavery and power in the hands of evil.

to the extent you have capitalism, you have prosperity, justice and freedom.

these two forms of government do not mix

Answer 3

You are correct,,,,, the Capitalist USA has accomplished more in 225 years then any other country has done in thousands of years, because of the free market and capitalism, and the USA has the highest environmental standards of the world, with the cleanest drinking water, and lush forrest's.

Answer 4

So much wrong with your statement.  First of all, capitalism and socialism are not forms of government.  They are economic systems.  You can have a dictatorship (form of government) that is capitalist (economic system), and a democracy (form of government) that is socialist (economic system).  Additionally, capitalism is far from having a flawless record on any level, economic, social, or environmental.  Socialism is far from being a failed concept.  Our country, and most successful countries, have a hybrid economy that has elements of both capitalism and socialism.

Answer 5

I thought the idea of freedom was the ability to criticize? Critics are our friends they point out our weakness, the ability for us to succeed has a capitalist nation was the ability to criticize our self so we could improve.

Answer 6

As somebody who has witnessed the effects of communism first hand, I wonder why some people just can't seem to find any criticism for it.  Instead they aim their vitriol at the capitalism.  An hour ago, I was at a memorial ceremony for a man that survived Holocaust, only to be subjected to more than a decade of communism in Eastern Europe, only to finally escape to America, and succeed beyond his wildest dreams.  His love for America and his life story are inspiration and instructive of the destructive legacy of socialism, communism, and the nazism.

Answer 7

No, not necessarily.

Socialists have criticized capitalism as not egalitarian enough, while slaveowners, feudalists and fascists did criticize capitalism as too egalitarian. These are on opposite sides of capitalism.

It gets more complicated because different people use the word "capitalism" in different senses.

In the original 19th-century sense, "capitalism," meant that one class monopolized the capital [land, money, or the government banning competitors] and another class was forced to provide labor to the former class.

In another 20th-century sense, "capitalism," meant a free market while "socialism" meant government intervention. However, this redefinition can be extremely misleading because:

1. actually-existing capitalism isn't a free market.

2. several socialist writers (e.g. Proudhon) favored free markets.

3. several more socialist writers (e.g. Kropotkin) favored free, stateless, systems which would not use currency, conditional exchange, etc. and aren't in most senses "markets" and aren't in any sense "government intervention."

If you are using "capitalism" in the older sense, you get one set of critics, and if you are using it in the newer sense, you get another overlapping set of critics.

Answer 8

Sadly, there exists capitalist fundamentalists who can only think in terms of black and white.  I consider them binary thinkers. They don't seem able to grasp shades of gray, hybrid systems, or compromise. Thus, in their minds, anyone that criticizes any part of capitalism must be advocating communism.

Answer 9

No, a communist or a Neo-n**i.

Answer 10

ROFLMAO!

Some people seem only capable of polarized, linear thinking...

capitalism........socialism

liberal............conservative

black..................white

right...................wrong

Not only can there be no middle ground between the extremes, there certainly can't be any new alternative outside of the two extreme choices.  That would shatter their one-dimensional world!

Some people aren't good at math, others seem to go through the world perceiving nothing but wildly opposite extremes.

Answer 11

...sound of head banging on desk...

We live in a mixed economy.  Lets make the best of it.

edit

no, no, I got it.  

You know, if you criticize in any way our In God Bless We Trust America the Beautiful and especially -horrors- our beloved president

that automatically makes you a card carrying commie pinko f*g degenerate dope smoking hippie weirdo atheist baby snatching apple pie mother hating member of the ACLU who probably drives a Volkswagen and doesn't shave their armpits (if you're a girl) .

Answer 12

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/artic...

no there communist.

socialist are what that short sawedoff dude with the funny mustache that ran Germany during WW2 were.