In recent years, it has become fashionable to insinuate that Democratic Capitalism is in a crisis. The crisis began with the Subprime Mortgage Crisis that contributed to the Great Recession, followed by the rise of Populism throughout the Western world. The fraying of the social safety net provided by Welfare Capitalism as well as the newfound interest in Protectionism (as a side effect of Economic Nationalism) resulted in renewed interest in it and Democratic Socialism. Populism in particular, as it is now well-known, yielded concerns among certain Liberal Capitalists that the “Capitalism” was beginning to deviate away from the norms of Parliamentary Democracy. Some fear that, if left unchecked, the Market will give birth to a multinational oligarchy unbeholden to the Liberal Capitalist nation and instead loyal to the Empire of Liberty.
The significance of Democratic Capitalism today is tied to the desire to rework Neoliberalism into something more suited to contemporary times. In a world where economic life also occurs in the Digital Realm, where Protectionism is normal and where the Coronavirus Pandemic instilled doubts on the integrity of Globalization, it is tenable to reenvisage the role of Parliament within Civil Society and the Market. Like Democratic Socialism, Democratic Capitalism intends to give Parliament a stronger role in Civil Society and the Market for the purposes of supporting Parliamentary Democracy.
Today’s Populism has not addressed the systemic problems that it was supposed to solve. Since the Populists are not a political elite in their own right, they can only stay in power through the support of an electoral majority in their Parliaments. To ensure that the election favors them, “voter suppression laws” have been justified under some contrived pretext or another. The Liberal Capitalists insist that if the Populists are allowed to have their way in the electoral process, it is possible that they will undermine the integrity of Parliamentary Democracy in general. When Parliamentary Democracy starts to resemble something akin to a bar brawl, nothing productive is going to come out of it and Civil Society will become more frustrated because not enough is being done by Parliament to support the Liberal Capitalist nation.
Thus, rather than let the electoral process devolve into petty demagoguery tantamount to encouraging some imaginary “Authoritarianism,” the solution among Liberal Capitalists is to address the problems that captivated people to align themselves with Populism. Rebuild the social safety net, give the Parliament a stronger role in the Market and Civil Society, and increase the Quantity of Kapital that Private Citizens earn each year. Put the interests of the Liberal Capitalist nation first before proceeding to help other Liberal Capitalist nations and the broader Empire of Liberty.
That seems to be the rationale going on in the policymaking of the Liberal Capitalists in the Western world. I believe that, from the standpoint of Neoliberalism, it is a reasonable response to the worst tendencies of their own Ideology. They would rather figure out what continues to work and throw out what does not work in favor of keeping Neoliberalism. They had done it before in the Great Depression and they did it again after the Death of Bretton Woods. Today should not be too different.
Of course, how long can we expect this trend to last? What will be the results of these ongoing endeavors to reevaluate the aims of Neoliberalism, particularly the role of Parliament in relation to Civil Society and the Market? Who stands to gain and who stands to lose from all of this? How much is just rhetoric and how much is what the Liberal Capitalists themselves intend to achieve?
I think the answer to those questions lies in what the Liberal Capitalists in America and abroad are capable of achieving throughout the 2020s. They are going to have to appease the restless masses of Civil Society because nobody else is going to do it for them. The Populists cannot be expected to help nor should anyone else from other Ideologies be compelled to provide anything of value to them.
Categories: Politics
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