Das Kapital
Socialism's arch-enemy is American Free Enterprise.
American free enterprise should never be lumped into the convenient collective term “Capitalism.”
Free enterprise means that any American can begin a business using his or her ideas, grit and labor for their own benefit. A food truck is a good example. A local woman, with her unique cooking style, started out with a used food truck parked along a highway. She has grown her business so that now she runs two physical locations plus a newer food truck parked in a semi-permanent location. She also employs a dozen people who pay for their own lifestyle.
To me, this is the kernel of American free enterprise — the pursuit of happiness.
Since socialism is a religion based on envy, “Keeping up with the Joneses” becomes “I want to take their stuff.” Not, “How do I earn enough to buy all that?” Most certainly not, “Good for them. I’m happy with my life as it is.”
The French socialist Louis Blanc (1850) is widely credited with the first modern conceptual use of the term “Capitalism.” He wrote:
“What I call ‘capitalism’ that is to say the appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others.”
Karl Marx wrote extensively about "capitalists" and the "capitalist mode of production" in his 1867 work Das Kapital, but, he actually used the noun "capitalism" itself very rarely. It was later Marxists and socialists who popularized the noun as an easy label for the entire system.
As usual, the left keeps re-defining language to its advantage.
American free enterprise did give rise to great wealth and to rampant abuse of employees, and customers. Especially during the mid-1800’s with industrialization bringing people off farms to work long hours in factories. Over time, regulations have been put in place to protect both customers and employees. That enterprise is no longer “unfettered,” does not change its basic definition as free enterprise.
An American farmer plants his crops in anticipation of its yield. No government dictates his decision. If he gets it right, he pockets the profit and saves a large percentage of it for those years when he gets it wrong. He and the inventor who believes his gadget will sell to millions are both engaging in free enterprise.
American free enterprise is the engine that has always propelled our economy. Enemies of our economic system, especially socialists and communists, contend that the fruit of other people’s labor should not accumulate to the benefit of the few: i.e. the entrepreneur or the company’s founder plus all the stockholders of that company.
To their utopian followers, this argument sells well. General Motors, for instance, employs thousands of people while the company’s profits are divvied up between a relative few. However, the “relative few” is much harder to measure. GM, for example, has approximately 2,468 institutional owners and shareholders (such as mutual funds, pension funds, and investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock). Many of GM’s workers are also GM stock holders, either directly or through a pension fund or a mutual fund.
I have worked for large national companies, small family-owned companies, a three person start-up. And I started my own company. Truth be told, I also fired my ass a couple of times for insubordination.
As I said, the central tenet of Socialism is jealosy. “I work hard while my boss gets rich.” Socialists like to brand this as “Wage Slavery.” Most people who work for wages do not put their job at the top of their happiness list. Even people who hold positions that might seem “rewarding” look forward to their non-work time for those warm moments with family. And, most people don’t leave their job, even with a promise of status and more money, because
Longer hours mean less time with family, less time fishing
Promotion means having to deal with other people’s petty problems and their lack of a work ethic
Promotion means you are the person who now answers to the boss for everything that went wrong
There’s a risk of relocation, either now or in the future
Self-employment is the hardest job there is. No regular paycheck is not for the faint of heart.