Re: Democracy = Capitalism?
“Democracy and Capitalism”. What a cocktail. They go together, like scotch and water.
This is something I have thought about for a long time and I'm glad to see this post.
Societal structure is in large part defined by the number and width of the pathways to the top that are available to meritorious individuals in the society. The more pathways and the wider they are, the faster the most talented individuals can rise to the top, regardless of what level of society they originate from. Politics and economics tend to define the number and width of these available pathways to influence, in the society.
In the USA we get sold “democracy” as the actual political order when in fact what it is actually anything but. Likewise in the USA we get sold “capitalism” as the actual economic order when in fact it is actually anything but.
What we DO have in the USA is a large number of very wide pathways to political and economic power. We have a society that is in effect a huge FARM SYSTEM for the development of political and economic leadership of not just the USA, but THEWORLD.
For an object example of what’s possible, look no further than Condaleeza Rice.
If you have the percentile, you are rapidly swept along towards the pathways to the political and economic elite, via the university education system. From there, you are launched into the elite almost automatically if you have the right stuff. Our educational system even attracts those who might lead in their own non-USA country. But when the best and the brightest get here, they often witness what I am saying, and what do they do? They decide to stay. In general this tends to strengthen the USA and weakens its competition, via “talent raiding”.
The USA farm system is a force in the world. We consistently attract the best talent not just from our own people but from all people around the world. These foreigners fuel our economic leadership. We are +1 and the originating country is -1 when a gifted entrepreneur decides to stay in the USA. The net is a +2 for USA competitiveness.
While “democracy” and “capitalism” are sold us as the way things work, what we have is in fact a hybrid system that is both a subset and superset of these two political and economic approaches aimed at building out and maintaining a huge farm system that draws from the entire world.
Via “democracy” and “capitalism”, the USA has created a vast farm system—THE BEST farm system in the world-- one that identifies and develops the best and the brightest, and moves them rapidly to the top. From there the USA competes globally in the global-scope political and economic arenas.
The results are in. Morality and ethical considerations aside, what has become plain is that we in the USA have implemented a political and economic system that trumps those of other nations competing for global political and economic dominance. Just look at what Reagan, using our system (and some deficit spending) did to the USSR.
The USSR did not make the final table.
Certainly we are witnessing the world-history geopolitical “final table” and the USA is clearly the big stack. It seems to me there is really nothing random about this, and that the USA plays the best according to the ruthless definition of the game.
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