I keep seeing posts from this instance referring to capitalists as liberals. Since when are capitalism and liberalism related? As far as I've always known, liberalism is a social ideology, while capitalism is an economic system.

Why do y'all refer to all capitalists as liberals when at least half (probably more, at least in my experience) are conservatives?

I, for example, consider myself a liberal, but I'm most certainly not a capitalist. I'm stuck in a capitalist society in which I have to play by the rules if I want to feed my family, but that's as far as my support for the system goes. I'm pretty sure a lot of Americans feel this way.

Looking it up, the definition of liberalism specifies a belief in maximum personal freedom, especially as guaranteed by a government. Considering that 90% of governments in the world are endlessly corrupt, capitalist or not, I'd much prefer one that guarantees its citizens rights as a matter of course rather than begrudgingly grants them privileges that can be taken away without public oversight.

Do y'all really trust your governments to look after your best interests? As a U.S. American, I know I wouldn't trust my government or politicians to do anything but enrich themselves at my expense, but I don't have to; my rights are guaranteed by our constitution.

Now if we could just get them to stop funding and committing genocide...

EDIT: So many incredibly well thought-out and researched responses! I have a lot of reading and thinking to do, so thank you all for your input. I'll likely be referring back to this post for a while as I learn more about the world outside my U.S.-centric bubble. My biggest takeaways from all this after a quick perusal of the replies are that liberalism has a very different meaning outside the U.S. and has a lot more to do with private property, especially land ownership, than I'd thought.

My time is limited and there are so many responses that I likely won't be replying to (m)any any time soon, but know that I appreciate all the knowledge bombs y'all have dropped.

  • culpritus [any]
    ·
    6 months ago

    short answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_liberalism

    longer answer: Liberalism is the founding political and economic philosophy of Capitalism. In the US sense, liberals (Dems) and conversatives (Repubs) are both just different flavors of the same liberal understanding of the world. This is the real difference between 'liberals' and 'leftists'. Actual leftists are most commonly on the anarchist to communist spectrum, the unifying criteria being opposition to Capitalism. Both Dems and Repubs in the US support Capitalism. They may quibble loudly and publicly about how best to 'do Capitalism', but neither seek to oppose Capitalism in any meaningful way. That makes them both liberals.

    I know I wouldn't trust my government or politicians to do anything but enrich themselves at my expense, but I don't have to; my rights are guaranteed by our constitution.

    Now if we could just get them to stop funding and committing genocide...

    holy fucking shit those are some big brainworms you got there

    If the people of the USA had any power in the US geopolitical order, there would be so many political changes from the status quo. There's tons of polling about how USA voters support decriminalizing cannabis, sensible gun regulations, medicare4all, rights to reproductive healthcare including abortions and birth control, etc and the Dems and Repubs will never do this. They use all these 'wedge issues' and 'culture war' stuff to maintain the duopoly of power that maintains the status quo. and their place within it. This is why the Dems never codified Roe vs Wade into actual law, they have relied on this issue to get 'liberals' to go vote for them against those terrible Repubs. This is why Obamacare is just another flavor of Romneycare literally! Their policies are basically the same because they see the world through the same lens of Capitalism. No solution or policy can go against that while they maintain power.