The Choice Can’t Be “Capitalism or Socialism”

If the past 100 years have shown anything, it’s that the dogmatic pursuit of these two systems ultimately results in economic failure. One of the most interesting economic choices of the modern age was equal parts controversial and out-of-the-box and that of course is Deng Xioping’s economic reforms in China.

Deng was a committed communist, but turned away from decades of Marxist-Leninist dogma to create a robust private sector within China. While there are many criticisms of the Chinese system, they are undeniably becoming the 21st century’s powerhouse. The rest of the world ought to learn from Deng’s example.

At the end of the day, “capitalism or socialism?” is a flawed question. The economic system itself isn’t the end goal. The end goal is the maximization of resources for the greatest benefit of society. The communist dogma was failing China. Maybe the country united around the CCP, but they were still poor. Amongst the poorest in the world. But this is quickly changing.

When we look at the issues of the west today, what do we see? We see record wealth inequality, expansive and inefficient governments, political polarization, fewer economic opportunities for younger generations.

The solutions to these problems will take a combination of measures that we would normally consider “capitalist” as well as “socialist.” But more than that it is going to take a re-evaluation of what it is we actually want. Because from what I can tell, that’s fundamentally the same thing. We all want economic freedom. The ability to work a decent job for enough money to live comfortably and feed our families.

So what we should do is throw away the labels, throw away the dogma and start finding actual common ground