hal@finney.org wrote:
>
> Samantha writes:
> > False. Pure capitalism is defined by free trade, voluntary trade among
> > free agents. That has everything to do with an ethics of individual
> > rights and with democracy. It is democracy in action within the
> > marketplace of goods, services and labor.
>
> The first part may be true, about free and voluntary trade, and
> individual rights. But let's not get that confused with democracy.
>
> Democracy is rule by the people, which in practice usually means rule by
> the majority. In a democratic system, 51% of the people can take property
> away from 49%. Democratic systems do not need to respect property rights,
> or to allow free trade. A democracy could have many restrictions which
> would be incompatible with pure capitalism.
Considering that the majority is invariably prone to being swayed by the
illogical and nonsensical, simple rule by the majority is obviously NOT
a desirable thing. The US was not set up as a simple democracy but as a
republic where some things could not be overridden (in theory) even by a
majority. Of course we have continuously ignored those safeguards
also.
- samantha
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