Social Democracy and Capitalism: A Reply To Richard Burcik

“If capitalism doesn’t work for us all, it doesn’t work at all.”

Introduction

Firstly, I would like to thank Richard Burcik for his recent letter to the editor of Merion West responding to my earlier piece previewing What Is Post-Modern Conservatism?: Essays on Our Hugely Tremendous Times for Zero Books. Mr. Burcik doesn’t comment on the major issue of the piece but took issue with my concluding comments calling for the emergence of a “robust social democracy.” To quote the respective section:

“In my mind, [the only thing that can replace post-modern conservatism] can only be a robust social democracy, where wealth is distributed more fairly and citizens are granted greater opportunities to frame the laws that govern them. We should also be agitating for greater international cooperation and integration to meet the challenges of the 21st century like climate change, regional inequality, and persistent xenophobia. These steps must be taken if neoliberalism is to be transcended and the vulgarities of post-modern culture erased.”

Now, I should observe that the book previewed does not primarily make a moral or economic argument about the need for social democracy. Rather, it is a piece of cultural commentary concerning the need to stymie the socio-political, economic, and technological transformations which generate a reactionary post-modern culture. This includes the destabilization of identity brought about by neoliberal capitalism, and exacerbated by the imposition of constraints on democratic participation and rising levels of economic and political inequality. My book argues these transformations and the culture allied to them generate reactionary forms of post-modern conservatism which pose a serious danger to everyone from classical liberals to egalitarian leftists. Economic transformations are only a part-albeit a significant one-of this story. None the less, I will respond to Mr. Burcik on the terms he has established in the letter.