Posted on 04/28/2016 4:23:51 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Jazz Shaw wrote yesterday on this, showing a lot of concern about the Harvard IOP poll reporting capitalism has only a 42% approval rating by millennials. He’s got really good points, but only partially mentions the fact socialism isn’t doing that much better with young people. Here’s what the poll found (emphasis mine):
Majority of 18- to 29-Year-Olds Reject Both Socialism and Capitalism. When 18- to 29-year-old young Americans were asked whether or not they support socialism, capitalism, and other political theories and labels, a majority reject both socialism and capitalism. Socialism is supported by 33% of young Americans, while capitalism is supported by 42%. Among those most likely to vote, 41% support socialism and 52% support capitalism. Socialism is typically more supported by 18- to 20-year-olds (41%), Democrats (50%), Clinton voters (54%), Hispanics (38%) and African Americans (39%). Capitalism is more likely to be supported by people who have graduated from college (56%), whites (43%), men (49%), people who live in the South (46%) and the West (45%), and members of the GOP (54%).
But it gets more interesting digging into the actual data and finding out there are a lot of people who reject the Capitalist and Socialist labels.
So if 79% of those polled won’t identify themselves as socialist, and 73% won’t identify themselves as capitalist, how can those in favor of free markets triumph? The first is defining what “capitalism” actually means. For a lot of people (thanks, Democrats and Republicans) capitalism is the ability for big businesses to take advantage of their pals in Washington, DC (or in local and state politics) to get favors. It’s getting massive tax breaks and incentives to move into an area, instead of picking it for location, workforce, and the like. It’s getting a taxpayer-funded bailout when things go sour, instead of letting companies sell off the profitable parts and go under. The “golden parachute” is probably there too. If this is what millennials think the definition of “capitalism” is, then it’s no wonder why they’re rejecting this label. This isn’t capitalism, it’s cronyism and it’s a problem here in America.
What capitalism is supposed to stand for is a free market economy, where government isn’t involved in things, and people can create whatever business they want to create (as long as it isn’t a slave trade). It means the only buying and selling which goes on is when a customer buys something from a business, one business buying product from another business, or when a business buys another business. It’s companies competing with each other for consumer’s money, instead of relying on the government to enforce some sort of monopoly (see the taxi cab industry). It’s new technology being developed to give a greater service to consumers (see Uber and Lyft). This is capitalism.
The cool thing is millennials are okay with this definition. Here’s what Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote at Reason on the poll (emphasis mine):
Millennials also love the idea of “social entrepreneurship”—doing well in business while doing good for others. Unlike anti-capitalists of yore, young people today don’t seem to see a tension between turning a profit and living righteously. It’s just a matter of making that money in an ethical manner, and “giving back” in some way, be it by donating a portion of proceeds or creating a product or service that provides a social good…
The Reason-Rupe Millennial Poll, a national survey of 18- to 29-year-olds undertaken in 2014, found 56 percent of respondents had a favorable view of capitalism, making it slightly less popular than socialism, which was viewed favorably by 58 percent. Asked about “free markets” and a “government managed economy,” however, markets won big time. Only 28 percent of those surveyed saw socialized business positively, compared to 74 percent who view free markets positively. What’s more, 64 percent said they prefer free markets to a gov-managed economy, while only 32 percent said the opposite.
So there you have it. Millennials love the idea of free markets, they just don’t like the term “capitalism” because of what it means to them. Remember, both the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street complained about the bailouts, their solutions were just different. Free market fans need to explain to millennials how they hate cronyism with a passion, and the solution isn’t more government involvement but less. It isn’t going to be successful, because there are going to be people who truly prefer socialism (democratic or otherwise) to willy-nilly free markets. But it doesn’t mean we stop promoting the idea of capitalism, because that would be disaster (especially if Bernie Sanders keeps screaming at the top of his lungs about free everything and higher taxes).
There’s also a choice the lovers of capitalism (real capitalism) have to decide: is it worth keeping that word alive, or is it time to start using terms like free markets to get our point across. It’s not an easy decision, because the labels have been around since Karl Marx wrote Communist Manifesto (who I believe actually first used the phrase “capitalist”). But the fact a majority of people wouldn’t define themselves as either capitalist or socialist really isn’t a bad thing.
Only 54% of Republicans support capitalism?
In other words,people likely to actually work for a living.
Millennial Ping!
Also, how was your Passover? I spent mine in Las Vegas!
ocialism attempts to vanquish nature by a front attack. Individualism, on the contrary, is the recognition, in social politics, that nature has a beneficent as well as a malignant side. The struggle for life provides for the various wants of the human race, in somewhat the same way as the climatic struggle of the elements provides for vegetable and animal life—imperfectly, that is, and in a manner strongly marked by inequalities and anomalies. By taking advantage of prevalent tendencies, it is possible to mitigate these anomalies and inequalities, but all experience shows that it is impossible to do away with them. All history, moreover, is the record of the triumph of Individualism over something which was virtually Socialism or Collectivism, though not called by that name. In early days, and even at this day under archaic civilisations, the note of social life is the absence of freedom. But under every progressive civilisation, freedom has made decisive strides—broadened down, as the poet says, from precedent to precedent. And it has been rightly and naturally so.
I.46
“Freedom is the most valuable of all human possessions, next after life itself. It is more valuable, in a manner, than even health. No human agency can secure health; but good laws, justly administered, can and do secure freedom. Freedom, indeed, is almost the only thing that law can secure. Law cannot secure equality, nor can it secure prosperity. In the direction of equality, all that law can do is to secure fair play, which is equality of rights but is not equality of conditions. In the direction of prosperity, all that law can do is to keep the road open. That is the Quintessence of Individualism, and it may fairly challenge comparison with that Quintessence of Socialism we have been discussing. Socialism, disguise it how we may, is the negation of Freedom. That it is so, and that it is also a scheme not capable of producing even material comfort in exchange for the abnegations of Freedom, I think the foregoing considerations amply prove.” EDWARD STANLEY ROBERTSON
Socialism is taught in schools. Then it wears off as people get older and experienced.
“33% of millennials don’t like socialism”
So 67% like it? Doesnt sound like good news.
If Millenials don’t like socialism, why do they vote for liberals by ridiculous margins?
Many of the socialists were probably pussies who were afraid of getting a well-deserved beating from the pollster.
Send the other 67% to Venezuela where they can become a part of history.
They can live there and actually experience the wonders of socialist life until Venezuela explodes into anarchy as the latest of many, many countries driven into ruin by socialist fanatics.
Thank you for referencing that article SeekAndFind. As usual, please bear in mind that the following critique is directed at the article and not at you.
Socialism isn’t necessarily the problem imo. After all, the roads and sidewalks that we use every day, along with police departments and public schools, are products of socialism imo.
The problem with socialism is when minority factions manage to subvert the will of the majority and pirate government powers and taxes for their own benefit.
Umm, the headline is inconsistent with the survey.
The headline should probably read 33% would support, not 33% dislike. The graphs say that 16% identify as socialists and 33% would support socialism. In other words, 17% have already given up fighting.
I am amused the author thinks that’s “good news”. That’s it?
Get a clue people before it’s all over.
Part of our problem is that the wearing-off phase is taking a lot longer than it used to. Many factors are involved, but the end result can be summarized as "Pajama Boy".
We have control of 35 or so state legislatures. We could fix this is we wanted to.
It’s the winning 66% that I’m worried about.
Remember, Comrade Obama won with less than a 1% advantage.
Comrade Salvador Allende of Chile won with a fraud-riddled “0.5%” of the vote (out of three candidates). He lost in total votes to a conservative majority, but in Chile then, the one who had the plurality won, and you see what it got them.
STUPID is well engrained in Obamites, Millenials, rich Baby-boomers on the Left, Hollyweird (about 95% Left), much of the mainstream media, academia (over 90% leftist), and the BLM thugs.
Thank You for the Ping Megan!
How was Vegas? Never been myself, hope you had a good time, any over seas traveling?
Mine was good, most of the family stayed in their respective states this year, but that was a welcome change XD
Oh, my. Las Vegas is the kind of place my parents would LOVE. Drugs, prostitutes, gambling, and drinking.
I hope I never have to see it again. Grand Canyon and Sedona were ah-mazing! I really want to go back there again!
No overseas travel for me. Christie is going to London soon and is taking her boy with her for his first trip.
Glad you had a quiet Passover! Sometimes a holiday spent in quiet contemplation helps us get closer to why God asks us to hold such days as special!
Shalom!
- Megan
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