Quote of the day—John Aziz

The chief problem that Marxists face is their misidentification of the present economic system as free market capitalism. How can we meaningfully call a system where the price of money is controlled by the state a free market? How can we meaningfully call a system where financial institutions are routinely bailed out a free market? How can we meaningfully call a system where upwards of 40% of GDP is spent by the state a free market? How can we call a system where the market trades the possibility of state intervention rather than underlying fundamentals a free market?

I’m not sure that Marxists have ever understood capitalism; Das Kapital is a mammoth work concentrating on many facets of 19th Century industrial and economic development, but it tends to focus in on obscure minutiae without ever really considering the coherent whole. If Marxists had ever come close to grasping the broader mechanisms of capitalism — and if they truly cared about democracy — they would have been far less likely to promulgate a system based on dictatorial central planning.

John Aziz
July 5, 2012
Guest Post: Is Marxism Coming Back?
[As I said after reading the Communist Manifesto, “The typical two year old child or even the family dog wouldn’t accept the conclusions unless they were forced into compliance.”

Marxists are either profoundly ignorant or profoundly evil. In either case I believe it is intentional. I suspect most fall into the ignorant category (also known as “useful idiots”) but the those in the latter category have a high probability of obtaining all the power.—Joe]

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3 thoughts on “Quote of the day—John Aziz

  1. I think they do care about democracy. Demoracies will all devour themselves eventually, and so democracy is a means to their end. If you’re a Progressive and don’t want a violent communist revolution, democracy is your best alternative. It’s been working great. It’s brought Europe to its knees, and we aren’t far behind. Combine public (coercive) education with democracy, top it off with compliant media, and you have a weapon of mass destruction.

    The misidentification bit is a tool as well. When socialism results in suffering, blame capitalism and call for more socialism as the solution. As I tell my Progressive friends; None of us alive today have seen capitalism.

    You want to see someone stumble over their own lips, ask a Progressive to simply define capitalism. If they don’t go into an incoherent rant, the best they’ll do is say capitalism is a system in which there are no rules, where the rich therefore have all the political power. When you suggest that such political power does not exist in capitalism, it fails to enter their imaginations. The idea of limited government makes no sense to them.

    It’s like trying to teach a 50 year old a new language. Practically all the words are different, and they need to start out with an interest in learning it or it’ll never happen. To them, capitalism simply equals the lack of justice, so anyone who advocates it is either stupid or evil. That makes getting them interested in it a real challenge. They are always trying to correct you instead.

  2. I always thought it was odd to describe capitalism as a system. Nobody arranged capitalism, or put it into place. Capitalism is the name for what happens (economically) when people are left alone.

  3. “Capitalism is the name for what happens (economically) when people are left alone.”
    Or more specifically; when people’s rights are protected. The left thinks that capitalism means you get to do what ever you want (lie, rob, cheat, steal, buy the political offices, spoil people’s land, et al). I constantly find myself having to correct them in their boundless ignorance.
    “No, Young Grasshopper; it means no one may violate your rights, and the tradeoff is that you may not violate anyone’s rights either.”

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