True. But the principled capitalist wishes for all market distorting rent seeking to go away. This principled capitalist understands Public Choice Theory and just how much it (rent seeking behaviors) robs growth and prosperity from society. In the end, the principled capitalist knows that there are more opportunities for honest and profitable outcomes the more commerce/enterprise/activity can be kept from government meddling or outright control.
This is a very loaded term. By "principled" one could mean steeped in Judeo-Christian morality and ethics or one could mean fully supportive of the notion that the shareholder demands, and must receive, the best possible return for his investment.
Lawyers defending mass-murderers that they know are guilty will argue that by defending their clients to the utmost they guarantee the fairness of the entire judicial system.
Likewise corporate officers who engage in rent-seeking behavior because it is more profitable and causes the stock price to go higher may believe deep down that it would be better in the long run to increase R&D spending but who's to stop them? Deep down they may want rent-seeking behavior to be banned, but at the same time they know they are capable of lobbying to keep rent-seeking behavior legal.
If someone could come up with a new definition of "truly free markets" which would make rent-seeking illegal then I might support it. However, it seems that few people who support free markets are against all forms of rent-seeking. In fact, they get all in a tizzy when you suggest that certain activities should be made illegal.
Somehow the true believers think that all rent-seeking behavior will, in the long run, be shaken out of the system if only the government would get out of the way.
But that is pure utopian thinking in my mind.
He, he. He makes a wish?