[extropy-chat] Democracy + Capitalism

[Adrian Tymes]

The main link I see between these two concepts is no more complex than
that they're mutually reinforcing - at least in the long term.  (Short
sightedness can and has caused many exceptions, but excessive short
sightedness can, in general, cause problems in non-democratic and/or
non-capitalistic societies just as easily.)

E.g.: democracy allows for regulations to be set by those closer to a
certain issue (with any higher-ups not needing to even be educated
about it in most cases), thus regulations are likely to be more
efficient, with obvious benefits for companies dealing with that issue
and without anyone losing anything in the deal.  Meanwhile, if people
are free to vote with their dollars, it becomes possible to use
economics as a form of protest over powerful non-government
organizations, so someone exploiting cheap labor and not at least
sharing the savings with the public (through lower prices) may see
that practice become uneconomical.  (The public can be bought off by
any organization controlling enough resources to do so, of course, but
that seems to be a problem under any form of government...and the
buying off itself at least puts a limit on relative power, by
transferring some to the public being bought off.)