Let us abandon for one moment the old ideology of Left, Right, Conservative, Liberal and so on, and use a less commondly used one known as Statism.
Statism decrees that governments are the best solution for the problems that ail us, therefore believing that most of the things we take as being 'good' come from a Government or politic of some sort. Equally, statists would argue that the state is the best tool for helping people.
There is certainly merit to this idea; for instance, my local government is concerned with localised problems such as rubbish collection, policing, community action, sewage etc.Here, the government is simply doing what a government is for: acting as a body which concerns itself solely with the smooth functioning of certain needs of the population. Which is all very well for the smaller problems in life.
But Capitalism is the best system for improving lives. If someone wants to get ahead in life, Capitalism steps in as the helping hand. Instead of relying on the Government, study hard, work hard, be wise, and work your way up the Capitalist ladder so as to increase your quality of life as a whole. In a Socialist state, the problem is that things rarely matter. Unlike a Capitalist state, there is less of a drive for excellence, for innovation, for improvement.
And taxes aren't the only drain on businesses; lest we forget beaurocracy. Most government regulations is well meaning. Take, for example, a case where a Government intervened in the Google satellite imagery system, so as to protect privacy of citizens. Surely a good move (though, it is worth mentioning at this stage that I personally would much rather have my information stored by a private company run by shareholders such as Google, than any government). The problem is the weight of beaurocracy becoming a difficult burden. Deregulation is not ideal, yet far better than over-regulation.
So my point is this: the government needs to be limited. They can't solve all problems, the more they try, the worse it is for everyone. That is also why government require checks and balances to prevent it from slipping into tyranny.
Bu the real question is - can anyone name a nation which doesn't rely on Capitalism that is democratic, socialist, and a truly pleasant place to live?
