The Binding New World Ligament
by John Heers, First Things Foundation
Most people in the world accept the idea that capitalism is an economic system. For most people capitalism is a thing you use, a system in which you participate so as to gain benefits associated with money. Most people think of capitalism as a slip ‘n slide, something with which you engage in order to enjoy society while also cooling off. For Americans, capitalism is something we use. It’s not something we’ve become. But I think this is wrong. Capitalism, history tells us, is a narrative about human existence, and most of us in the West aren’t telling the story, we are, in fact, living it. We are the products of capitalism.
The first clue that this may be true is the word itself. Capitalism.
Look at the ending. The “ism” suffix tells us a great deal. “Ism” words connote belief.