Sabbo asks: Define capitalist democracy
Hi Sabbo –
Wow, you’re asking a dog to define capitalist democracy? You’re a trusting soul!
Well, Democracy is a form of government, mainly from ancient Greece, based on the idea that the people are in charge. Members of the group (such as citizens of a country, or members of a club) vote to determine such things as who the leaders are, what laws are enacted, or any other major decisions.
Capitalism is an economic system, based in individual and group ownership of property. People buy, sell, and rent goods and services, generally toward a goal of making profit.
As you might guess from these definitions, each of these words covers a broad spectrum. By definition, a Monarchy (where there’s a king or queen) can’t be a Democracy, but many modern Monarchies are mostly democratic, such as Great Britain, where there’s a Queen in charge, but most decisions are made by the Parliament, which is all made up of elected officials. Similarly, an economy can be considered Capitalist even though the government owns and/or controls some property and businesses. For example, there are Capitalists in the United States today who argue that certain services should no longer come from the government, that letter-delivery, firefighters, and police officers, should all work privately for people who pay them. But although those services still do come from the government, no one seriously argues that the U.S. economy isn’t Capitalist.
Meanwhile, I can tell you what the opposite of a Capitalist Democracy is. That’s a home where the dog does whatever the human tells him to, and only gets to eat when the human feeds him. Absolute dictatorship! If I didn’t love Handsome so much, I’d have a revolution right now!
Cheers,
Shirelle