We Got Capitalism Totally Wrong

Maybe we should have actually listened to Adam Smith and dismantled feudalism.

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Whether you love or hate “capitalism”, there is a disappointing precedent for this word: right from the beginning it was an epithet. While the adjective “capitalist” bounced around a bit in the late 1800s as an epithet for rich people, it wasn’t until the 1900s that the term “capitalism” came into common use as economic system. Even from the start it was as an attack.

The word capitalism was incendiary from its very inception.

Proponents will often cite capitalism as the economic system that gives the greatest “freedom” to its participants. Opponents will often cite capitalism as the cause of a wide range of problems such as our failing healthcare systems and institutional racism. Often, proponents of capitalism are found on the conservative side of the political spectrum while opponents tend more liberal.

Thanks to this dichotomy, invocation of the word “capitalism” in 2025 is almost always incendiary, just as it was a hundred years ago when it first came into common usage. But if capitalism is just a dirty word, what does…