Extremism (both Anti-Capitalist and Anti-Government) is hurting this country.

[Beaches & Nature fan]

Hi everyone,

I always say, that our attitude determines our altitude in life.

Our altitude also can determine our downfall, as well. And I think one reason (among many others) America is where it is, largely because of a collection of extremist attitudes.

I think this country has too much extreme attitudes; on the one hand, people hate the free market, or capitalism. On the other hand, there's those who hate government, or want so little of it, that we can drain it in a bathtub.

I think we should see that both systems can be good and bad. Yes, we don't like corruption, but we must realize that corruption is born in the person themselves, regardless of the system. Therefore, both government and private sector can be rife with corruption, if the wrong people are in it.

Today I will touch on the extreme left attitude of hating capitalism. I think America has way more anti-capitalist sentiment than Europe. Which makes sense, sadly - if you think about it, some of the most prominent schools of economic thought - Keynes, Austrian school, etc. came from where? Europe, of course.

But the anti-capitalist sentiment here is unfortunate. Not least because I am a very pro-free market centrist, but also because of people like Bernie Sanders.

Bernie has called countries like Denmark "socialist", leading his progressive ilk to believe that Europe is a socialist model, for the propaganda they spread.

But they, and Bernie are wrong. Denmark is not socialist. Actually it is a very pro-capitalist country that has a wealth of social **programs**. but that doesn't make it socialist.

The below article is old; but witness the Prime Minister of Denmark. who was annoyed at Bernie calling Denmark socialist, all for the reasons in the previous paragraph:

Denmark’s prime minister says Bernie Sanders is wrong to call his country socialist | Vox

Moreover, for all the social programs Denmark does offer, it also has a high degree of economic freedom, significantly higher than USA, per the below chart. You will notice that there are other countries progressives label "socialist" that are way higher than us in terns of economic freedom. That means those countries do believe in social programs, which is great, but they also believe in a healthy, robust free market as well.

Index of Economic Freedom - Wikipedia

We can't say this about USA...here it seems like, a lot of the attitude with respect to government vs. free market is,  hate one, and love the other, or vice versa.

And those attitudes, (again among other factors) are what is hurting this country daily.

Best to all, 

Vik

[Ernest Prabhakar]

I share your grief about the seemingly irrational extremism on both sides. 

However, I personally see this as a symptom of the “meta-crisis” — the lost of a shared narrative for sense-making.  When your dominant paradigm disappears, people cling to any narrative that helps them feel safe.  Regardless of how counter-productive (never mind counter-factual) it may be.

:’-(

The only way forward, IMHO, is creating safe spaces for people to experience a better path forward…

Cheers,

Ernie

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 13, 2025, at 07:25, Beaches & Nature fan <mountai...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Beaches & Nature fan]

Well said, about why people resort to extremism.

Yes safe spaces are important,  as they should be, where people can voice their opinions and be heard. 

That's a lot better than the extremists going out to the world's media, with their extreme attitudes, on either side. This is what is poisoning the political landscape of this country for sure. I hope for more sides coming together, eventually, but it may be a long process. We'll have to see how things go from here.