ANSWERS: 2
  • Liberalism is a theory of government that emphasizes individual liberty and rights and equal opportunity as political goals. Capitalism is an economic system that emphasizes the creation of capital (money, goods, etc.) through a free market, and private ownership of the means of production. Both emphasize the individual instead of the community; rights, instead of responsibilities; however, capitalism is more concerned with the economy (how we make money), while liberalism is more concerned with social politics (how we get along with one another). Both are theoretical, but liberalism is more of a principle, while capitalism is more of a system. These are some very basic definitions. Other people who know more about it could go much deeper into this question, I bet.
  • 2-22-2017 The word 'capitalism' was adopted by Karl Marx because he needed a contrast to his theory of socialism. Nobody ever bothered to define it. It is quite meaningless because "capital" is defined as "tools of production" in economics. You need land, tools, and labor to have an economic system. You have to have all three, so there is no such thing as landism, toolism, or laborism. Since people in the west operate businesses on borrowed money, the initial loan for operating funds came to be called a capital loan, and the word was soon stretched to mean all funds available for use. So then capitalism can only be defined as "the way we do things in the west", which is what Marx was opposed to all along. The very oddest part of this story is that Marx and Soviet Russia were supported by money from western banks for as long as they existed. Liberalism just means wanting to change something. No particular connection to liberty.

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