Liberal Capitalist
Ronald Reagan's presidency (1981–1989) in the United States exemplified Liberal Capitalism through policies emphasizing deregulation, tax cuts, and privatization. His administration reduced government intervention in industries such as banking and telecommunications, promoting a dynamic capitalist economy. While committed to free markets, Reagan upheld the rule of law and democratic governance, ensuring transparency and accountability in economic policies.
What it believes
Free markets and free people, one principle twice applied: enterprise unregulated where possible, private life unpoliced entirely — the state a referee of force and fraud, agnostic about both portfolios and pleasures.
The appeal
It is liberalism at its most symmetrical — no drug war, no censorship, no corporate welfare either — and the natural home of everyone who found the right too prudish and the left too expensive.
Where it breaks
Symmetry between capital and citizen is formal only: the corporation outlasts, outspends, and out-lawyers the person, and 'agnostic' government drifts toward whoever can afford the referee's ear.
Among its neighbours
The Neoliberal above shares the economics with more managerial ambition. The Welfare Capitalist beside it buys social peace this cell considers overpriced. Below, Georgism spots the one monopoly — land — this cell's symmetry misses. Marketward, the Civil Libertarian leads with the rights half.
Figures — real and imagined — who share the Liberal Capitalist base ideology. They differ only on the third axis: from radical to restorationist, each is a different face of a Liberal Capitalist.
The company you keep.
The social axis (progressive ↔ traditional) splits Liberal Capitalist into nine named shades. Take the quiz to find out which one is yours.
- Radical Liberal Capitalist
- Progressive Liberal Capitalist
- Reformist Liberal Capitalist
- Heterodox Liberal Capitalist
- Liberal Capitalist
- Rooted Liberal Capitalist
- Traditional Liberal Capitalist
- Reactionary Liberal Capitalist
- Restorationist Liberal Capitalist