04-Semantics

            I’m about out of spiritual breath on this, but I’ll say it once again. We have a semantics problem, and it’s serious.

            To most of the international world and their numerous diasporas in the United States, socialism means Stalin, Hitler, Xi, Castro, Chavez, etc, and they’re not wrong. The dictionary definition of socialism always includes government ownership or control of the means of production.

            This is not what Bernie Sanders, Zoran Mamdani, or Melat Kiros intend, but it’s how the message lands with a large portion of the political audience. 

            We’re losing a huge part of the messaging battle because of this.

            The difference is this: the “Democratic Socialists” are not anti-capitalist. They assume the continuation, rebuilding, and healing of healthy American capitalism which is where the wealth comes from they want to redistribute, but they seem unable to say this because they are trapped by the semantics in a socialism vs capitalism dichotomy.

            Fact: More than 99% of American businesses are small businesses defined as less than 500 employees. (https://www.uschamber.com/small-business/small-business-data-center). This is the engine that fuels everything the government does. 

            Kiros expresses it better than anyone else by pointing out that government redistribution of wealth for the benefit of all citizens begins with the military, public schools, public highways, national parks, etc, things that no American considers evil, but even she calls this socialism.

            The classic socialists are Trump (government purchases of shares of stock in public companies) and the super-sized corporations and super-wealthy egos that fund our politics.

            Adam Smith, who defined capitalism, would consider this anti-capitalist as he envisioned it. He warned against the collusion of business and government that we see today.

            American democracy and healthy capitalism are two sides of the same coin. The government is supposed to be the strength of the people as a collection of individuals limiting the power of any oligarchy through laws regulating and protecting true market competition and taking over those activities that markets can’t effectively operate (think utilities). The boundaries of what those are exactly is a constant debate, but capitalism is the water we swim in that creates the wealth we want to distribute. 

            Capitalism is how people raise themselves financially. Think of your favorite food trucks. These people are capitalists, and there are millions like them, far more than there are Elon Musks or Mark Zuckerbergs or Koch brothers.

            We had a messaging chance several years ago when Elizabeth Warren said, “I am a capitalist to my bones”. We lost it.

            How do we turn this around and gain back all the ground we lose daily because of this misunderstanding?

            I don’t know. I’m out of breath.

            Here are earlier uses of my breath on the subject if you are interested:

            https://www.hughmoffatt.com/14-socialism
            https://www.hughmoffatt.com/13-solutions

Hugh Moffatt
Nashville, Tennessee
July 5, 2026