Socialism, Capitalism, and Freedom

Summary

Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Peter Berkowitz is a very helpful essay, in particular as a primer on Lockean philosophy, Marxism, and the contrasts between them. Dr. Berkowitz, a longtime stalwart of the Hoover Institution, is also a senior eminence at the United States Department of State, where he is Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff in the office of the Secretary of State. IOW, he leads the bold and purposeful Mike Pompeo’s internal think tank.

Even if he wasn’t head of the consequential Pompeo’s brain-trust, Berkowitz’s primer on the origins of capitalism and socialism would remain essential reading. Speaking of essential reading, this treatise is among the foundational essays of The Human Prosperity Project. Another is Socialism, Capitalism, and Income, reviewed and given eCon context here.

Peter Berkowitz’s Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom is shown and linked below, followed by a series of comments that amplify his points with eCon insights.

Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

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Comments

The canonical distinction between capitalism and socialism is simply dCon vs. cCon.

In capitalism, private individuals make the major decisions… In socialism, the state makes the major decisions. Page 2 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

Decentralized Control versus Centralized Control gets explored in eCon 401 — dCon vs. cCon. Meanwhile, socialism and capitalism are seen in relation to each on the eCon Axis in eCon 103 — Economic Systems on the eCon Axis.

Why is the free market better?

The defense of the free market is central to the securing of individual freedom and equality under law. Page 3 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

Even better, the defense of the free market is simply that dCon delivers better results for the commonwealth. To adapt Ronald Reagan, we win, they lose. eCon 202 explains why dCon beats cCon.

Legitimate government must be grounded in consent, but so must other nucleons.

Locke maintains that to deserve obedience, laws — and the political institutions for making, enforcing, and adjudicating disputes about them — must be grounded in consent. Page 4 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

Yes, but it is not just GovNukes that must be grounded in consent. In fact, all nucleons – governmental, economic and religious – must be grounded in consent for legitimacy, even if only GovNukes have police power. (The definition of GovNukes and the other socionomic nucleons is found in eCon 300 — Particle Physics Model of Socionomic Systems.)

Socionomic Nucleons: GovNukes • Businesses • Relgions

Marx lacked self-awareness, bigly.

It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. – Karl Marx Page 6 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

In fact, Marx himself was subject to a mongo false consciousness.

Marx’s theory of human emancipation underlays the Big Lie of Marxism.

Marx said that human emancipation occurs “only when the real, individual man re-absorbs in himself the abstract citizen.” Page 6 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

In short, Marxism promises that individuals gain societal power by giving up their personal power. Societal power does indeed grow under Marxism, but at the cost of personal power, which evanesces.

Marx was estranged from work.

Capitalism estranges workers from man’s ‘species- being’,” according to Marx. Page 7 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

Marx hated work and, by extension, pitied workers. Ironic, that.

Marx misunderstood people.

Marx contended that history is dominated by the “prevailing mode of economic production and exchange.” Page 7 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

For Marx, economics dominates human existence, instead of existing as one third of a troika of forces that also includes family and religion. In short, Marx misunderstood people, which is why cCon is unnatural, GMO economics.

Marx missed capitalism’s uplifting effect on the commonwealth.

“The bourgeoisie are unwitting revolutionaries,” according to Marx. Page 7 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

While he correctly noted capitalism’s destabilizing effect, Marx missed that it destabilizes upwards. His prescription — Marxism — torpifies first, and then destabilizes downward.

Marx advocated that a bad cCon system be replaced with a worse cCon system.

Why did communism fail, and liberal democracy prosper? Page 9 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

This occurred because the “capitalism” of Marx’s day was largely cCon, formed by a mashup of political cCon and extreme dCon (shown as laissez-faire in the nearby diagram). And so socialism substituted a worse cCon system for the cCon capitalism of the day, even as capitalism evolved into the moderate dCon we know today.

The “capitalism” of Marx’s day was largely cCon, formed by a mashup of political cCon and laissez-faire extreme dCon.

dCon eCon is the smartest eCon.

First, Marx wildly underestimated the self-correcting powers of liberal democracies and free markets. Page 8 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

eCon 205 explains why dCon eCon is the smartest eCon.

More irony

Second, Marx presumed to possess final and incontrovertible knowledge about the necessary unfolding of human affairs from the earliest forms of civilization to the present. Page 8 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

That’s ironic given how badly Marx misunderstood people.

Marx was a utopian.

Third, Marx succumbed to the utopian spirit. Page 8 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

As an extreme cCon, yes he did. OTOH, dCon Doesn’t Promise Utopia.

The system with the best results wins.

Second, liberal democracy does not rest on a theory of history but rather on a conviction about human beings — that all are born free and equal and that rights inhere in each and every human being. Instead of reducing ideas to expressions of economic relations, liberal democracy affirms that economic relations should reflect the idea of individual freedom. Page 9 of Capitalism, Socialism, and Freedom by Dr. Peter Berkowitz

Individual freedom is not just morally correct, it produces better results for the commonwealth. At the end of the day, pragmatic results are decisive in the battle for hearts and minds.