Written By: Dennis Shen
Capitalism and democracy are often characterized as the twin virtues that have defined America’s modern history and success. But capitalism and democracy do not exist in uniformity: to be more capitalistic does not invariably make us more democratic. Instead, there has always existed an intricate balance between free market principles and strong democratic governance, oftentimes counterbalancing one another, that has determined the long-run health and sustainability of a political and economic system. America’s past success in becoming the world’s leading nation was founded and sustained by its managing this balance between private markets and government better than perhaps any other country in history. The ingenuity and allocative efficiency of free markets in partnership with the vision and moral leadership of a strong American government helped design the modern world and make it in the image of a fair and decent people.
But this balance between markets and government can break down if not very carefully maintained. At the core of America’s problems today is an existing imbalance of too much dependence on unregulated, free market capitalism and too little government oversight and leadership.
Off the Spectrum 