tl;dr - true capitalism results in economic singularities and infinite wealth for everyone. that’s why i like capitalism as a leftist.
to get us started, my definition of capitalism is “unregulated competition”.
i ask because… …i really like capitalism. but i’m a leftist.
i am someone who has been called numerous 6 letter words my entire life by people who think i’m a socialist or communist. but i’m really not.
it’s funny really, those calling me a f##### can’t handle real competition. especially at this point in a planetary species’ development. where nimbleness, flexibility and cooperation among economic partners is more profitable than most government intervention. obviously.
government is meant to ensure security, authenticity and veracity of economic claims. not limit markets with patents or unreasonable prohibitions.
i think authentic capitalism is wonderful and the ideal choice for a free society.
I don’t know where you got your definition of capitalism “results in economic singularities and infinite wealth for everyone”, but it’s wrong. The West is currently in late-stage capitalism, which is always the outcome of a capitalist system: wealth and power gets consolidated into the hands of the few, while the many suffer.
The term “leftist” can best be described politically, as supporting the political left. The problem with that term currently is that it’s used to define non-political ideology as well, like social aspects such as empathy/sympathy. I’m unsure where you stand when you call yourself “leftist” so it’s hard to say if your definition can mix with capitalism.
Fundamentally, in my opinion no, enjoying capitalsim is supporting a system that inherently causes inequality, wealth gaps, and the concept of profits over people, which are the opposite of a standard definition of “leftist” beliefs no matter how you define it.
My question to you is, would you still blindly support capitalism if you were one of the many who didn’t benefit from it?
Sounds like Anarcho-Capitalism
Where are you from OP? Right-left is a spectrum. There is nuance. Where I live, polarization is a problem, due to some far right fuckers holding our politics hostage. Any nuance is immediately derided as being ‘far left’.
There’s contexts for the left-right sperctrum, like social, economic or cultural. To throw in a few crude generalizations: social leftists are for a more equal society for the rich and poor alike with equal chances in terms of education, affordable housing and medical care. Cultural leftists are more open to foreign influences like migrants and niche cultural stuff and economic leftists lean toward a more honest economic structure with more government regulation on big corporations.
So it is perfectly possible to be culturally / socially left-ish, but economic right-ish.
That’s called social democracy. At its core, being left means being anticapitalist. Social democracy itself does not reject capitalism, though does regulate it strongly (and rightly so).
One reason people may favour social democracy is that it allows for a market economy, but another for opposition is that this still enables bribery through lobbies, as in all forms of capitalism.
And so I myself (being an ancom) wouldn’t count social democracy as quite being left. But it’s a good introduction for liberals and centrists to eventually get them on board with more thorough democratic socialism.
Yes, politics isn’t a binary system. It’s a spectrum. There’s multiple dimensions. For each of them you can have your own opinion. I dare say there are no two people with identical political profiles.
Some dimensions are (source chatgpt):
- Left / Right
- Authoritarian / Libertarian
- Progressive / Conservative
- Globalist / Nationalist
- Populist / Elitist
- Revolutionary / Reformist
- Environmental (Ecologist) / Industrial (Productivist)
- Rationalist / Romantic
Absolutely.
