Historically the proponents of capitalism have argued against communism as the foe of political liberty and quality. In fact, capitalism was defined as the polar opposite of Communism and socialism since the dawn of the 19th Century. But in truth, the framers of capitalist theory have not been able to offer a positive program for establishing an economically classless society as communism has been able to define a politically classless society. The founders of capitalist theory have not countered the call for a communist
revolution by proposing a capitalist revolution which, by carrying out the true principles of capitalism, would produce the economic equality and democracy we need as the basis for political equality and democracy. Not for more than 200 years. Not until now.
Our understanding of “capitalism” was colored by the sound criticisms that had been leveled against its injustices and inequities, not only by Marx and Engels and by socialists generally, but also by Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI and by social philosophers or reformers as diverse as Alexis de Tocqueville, Horace Mann, Henry George, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
Building block of NeoCapitalism.
The concept of economic equality does not mean equality of possessions any more than political equality means equality of functions. We conceive political democracy as a politically classless society with a rotating hierarchy of leaders. If we think of an economic democracy, it must somehow be conceived as an economically classless society, with a rotating heirarchy of managers.
Economists, Mortimer J.Adler and Louis O. Kelso defined the economic counterpart of political democracy, as the involvement of two things: (1) economic liberty, i.e., the abolition of all economic slavery, servitude, or dependence; and (2) economic equality, i.e., the enjoyment by all men of the same economic status and, therewith, of the same opportunities to live well.
Therefore, the tenets of the practical application of capitalism to our current way of life must begin with the recognition that society cannot exercise freedom in the political sphere while being deprived of it in the economic sphere.
Fifty years ago, this year Louis O. Kelso published the first Capitalist Manifesto. His introduction stated, “Ours is not the manifesto of a revolutionary party dedicated to overthrowing the established order. It is instead a revolutionary manifesto which calls upon the American people as a whole to find in the established order the reasons for its renovation and the seeds of the better society we can develop. The end, at last in view, is that ideal society to which America has always been dedicated and toward which it has made great progress since its beginning.
THE CAPITALIST MANIFESTO is intended to replace the Communist Manifesto as a call to action, first of all in our own country, and then, with our country’s leadership, everywhere else in the world. It is our industrial power and capital wealth, together with our institutions of political liberty and justice, that make America the place where the capitalist revolution must first take place to establish economic liberty and justice for all.
But while we intend this Manifesto for capitalism, to replace the earlier one against it, and while we have every reason to hope that the principles and program of this Manifesto can win the minds of thinking men, we cannot deceive ourselves that it will ever have the blind emotional appeal that made the earlier Manifesto so powerful a revolutionary force.”
Given the economic events of our time, these precepts from half a century past still ring true, with one significant exception, “We cannot deceive ourselves that it will ever have the blind emotional appeal that made the earlier Manifesto so powerful a revolutionary force.”
What is needed today is exactly that; an emotional appeal that leads to a powerful revolutionary force. This is a force that can be defined as NeoCapitalism. Capitalism for the 21st Century.
In the coming weeks and months we will attempt on these pages to give some form and definition to this concept of NeoCapitalism and the ideal of a political organization that might effectively bring it to bare against the conditions that plague our modern day society. We hope you will join us in realizing this Capitalist Party.
