What are your thoughts on liberal anti-capitalism and reclaiming liberalism for the radical left?
Liberal anti-capitalists typically show that capitalism is illiberal through demonstrating how it violates liberal principles. An example would be David Ellerman in:
https://www.ellerman.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Article-from-ReclaimingLiberalismEbook.pdf
He argues that capitalist employment violates liberal principles of justice such as the norm that legal and de facto responsibility should match implying a theory of inalienable rights
My thoughts are… that I’ll see if ChatGPT or something can remove the chaff from that PDF, because oh man, is it full of it.
Here is a short introduction to the core argument against capitalism based on liberal principles: https://www.ellerman.org/inalienable-rights-part-i-the-basic-argument/
I don’t have any issue with someone wanting to reassert the liberal basis for Leftist philosophies, but I think that this is one of those things that only makes sense to do in Leftist spaces.
There are too many misperceptions and bastardized meanings that have layered onto Liberalism as a concept in the minds of most people living under capitalism, such that before you can begin reasserting the Leftist agreement with actual liberalism, you are going to have to completely undo the years of capitalist propaganda that has reworked liberalism into being the same as (modern) Libertarianism or Neo liberalism, both of which the average person just calls Liberalism.
And that’s not even getting into the de-Capitalism-ization of Libertarianism, which was originally a leftist, anti-capitalist and anti-government movement, but was completely corrupted/co-opted by the Right in US politics in the 50s, into the current AnCap shitshow.
tl;Dr the amount of work and influence that would be required to correct the definitions around liberalism in the minds of the genpop, as a prerequisite for reclaiming the term for Leftists, is beyond our capabilities, outside of Leftist spaces.
Anti-capitalism is anti-liberal because capitalism is defined by free markets.
It takes anti-liberal policies to prevent people from choosing to get a job working for wages. It’s an economic arrangement that people choose willingly, so you have to violate free choice in order to stop it from happening.
Capitalist free markets and liberalism broadly abolishes many mutually voluntary contracts such as coverture marriage contracts, self-sale contracts and non-democratic constitutions on grounds of inalienable rights. Inalienable means can’t be given up even with consent. Employment violates the liberal norm that legal and de facto responsibility should match. Consent can’t transfer workers’ joint de facto responsibility for production to solely the employer.
Did you read the articles I linked?
