Advanced capitalist economies are associated with advanced democracies.
In advanced capitalist societies, any person can form an organization, access
government-enforced rules to structure it, and engage in a wide variety of activities without having to continually request approval from the government. The forms of supported organizations are rich and varied, with sizes ranging from very small to very large, and lots of changes appearing and disappearing as the market needs. Advanced capitalism ensures that everyone faces the same limits and enjoys the same freedoms; its not the absence of limits or regulation.
In advanced democratic societies electoral contests are unencumbered, with full suffrage, minimal fraud, and effective guarantees of civil liberties (freedom of speech, assembly, and association).
Democratic health is often measured by a polity score that measures indexes of government, how the executive is chosen, constraints on the power of the executive, the extent of political competition, etc. For example, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on democracy.
In 2025, the V-Dem director said the United States will “definitely” be downgraded and reclassified in next year’s assessment. “At the pace at which it is happening”, he noted , “I would say that before the end of the summer, you no longer qualify as a democracy in the United States”, adding that “it would mean that the rule of law, the constraints of the executive, critically, that they would be gone to such an extent that we can no longer talk about even a constitutional republic.”
Because of the tight association between advanced democracy and advanced capitalism a degradation of democracy will have commensurate effects on capitalism -- and therefore, whatever we call labor these days will suffer.
Try, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try and you will only come
To this conclusion...
You can't have (an advanced) one without the other
It seems FDR's definition of "economic freedom" is very different from that of conservatives today.
The left has pointed out for a long time that freedom is meaningless without the material means to exercise it. What good is freedom of speech if you spend 16 hours a day working for an employer who can control what you say on the job? What good is freedom of movement if you can't afford to travel anyway?
Our capitalist class has empowered fascism, and is using the state to rob from the poor to give to the rich. It's time to recognize that capitalism and true economic freedom for all are not interlinked, but are sometimes enemies.
FDR was far from a perfect person. His history as an imperialist navy asst-secretary, his ambition. But by the time he reached his lifelong goal he had learned (the hard way) that when we look down on others we should know, there but for grace - there go I. These are the words of a man forced to deal with the world the way it is - warts and all.
"The Fourth of July commemorates our political freedom—a freedom which without economic freedom is meaningless indeed." I like to ask you to think about being homeless, which my family was during the Great Recession, through this lens. You lose so many rights, especially the 4th, when you are homeless. But you also lose freedom and opportunity because you need a residence or mailing address to climb out of the hole and get a job. My husband worked 50 hrs a week as a zookeeper from our tent and car. That's the only way we got out and regained rights. Especially civil rights. Thank you.
Advanced capitalist economies are associated with advanced democracies.
In advanced capitalist societies, any person can form an organization, access
government-enforced rules to structure it, and engage in a wide variety of activities without having to continually request approval from the government. The forms of supported organizations are rich and varied, with sizes ranging from very small to very large, and lots of changes appearing and disappearing as the market needs. Advanced capitalism ensures that everyone faces the same limits and enjoys the same freedoms; its not the absence of limits or regulation.
In advanced democratic societies electoral contests are unencumbered, with full suffrage, minimal fraud, and effective guarantees of civil liberties (freedom of speech, assembly, and association).
Democratic health is often measured by a polity score that measures indexes of government, how the executive is chosen, constraints on the power of the executive, the extent of political competition, etc. For example, Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on democracy.
In 2025, the V-Dem director said the United States will “definitely” be downgraded and reclassified in next year’s assessment. “At the pace at which it is happening”, he noted , “I would say that before the end of the summer, you no longer qualify as a democracy in the United States”, adding that “it would mean that the rule of law, the constraints of the executive, critically, that they would be gone to such an extent that we can no longer talk about even a constitutional republic.”
Because of the tight association between advanced democracy and advanced capitalism a degradation of democracy will have commensurate effects on capitalism -- and therefore, whatever we call labor these days will suffer.
Try, try, try to separate them
It's an illusion
Try, try, try and you will only come
To this conclusion...
You can't have (an advanced) one without the other
It seems FDR's definition of "economic freedom" is very different from that of conservatives today.
The left has pointed out for a long time that freedom is meaningless without the material means to exercise it. What good is freedom of speech if you spend 16 hours a day working for an employer who can control what you say on the job? What good is freedom of movement if you can't afford to travel anyway?
Our capitalist class has empowered fascism, and is using the state to rob from the poor to give to the rich. It's time to recognize that capitalism and true economic freedom for all are not interlinked, but are sometimes enemies.
FDR was far from a perfect person. His history as an imperialist navy asst-secretary, his ambition. But by the time he reached his lifelong goal he had learned (the hard way) that when we look down on others we should know, there but for grace - there go I. These are the words of a man forced to deal with the world the way it is - warts and all.
"The Fourth of July commemorates our political freedom—a freedom which without economic freedom is meaningless indeed." I like to ask you to think about being homeless, which my family was during the Great Recession, through this lens. You lose so many rights, especially the 4th, when you are homeless. But you also lose freedom and opportunity because you need a residence or mailing address to climb out of the hole and get a job. My husband worked 50 hrs a week as a zookeeper from our tent and car. That's the only way we got out and regained rights. Especially civil rights. Thank you.