Capitalism has failed us.

[Catalan]

@I. Ryan

I am wondering whether I (and we) should just “let go” of the word “capitalism”, just accept that the definition of it has changed.

I, personally, prefer the word or phrase “voluntism” or “voluntary association” or whatever.

I guarantee you that any new word will be soon be given a bad connotation, as well. Austrian school, as far as I know, does not necessarily imply adherence to “capitalism” (under whatever definition), and yet apparently people feel the need to drop the name (this is not meant as a snip at any organization, I am simply using it to illustrate my point).

[JosephBright]

@I. Ryan

Capitalism has failed us.

The term never served us to begin with.

[Knight_of_BAAWA]

@I. Ryan

I am wondering whether I (and we) should just “let go” of the word “capitalism”, just accept that the definition of it has changed.

No. It hasn’t actually changed; it’s simply conflated and lied about.

[Leviathan]

No one likes the endless semantics disputes, myself included. While adherence to descriptivist theory is an enticing path, it does remain the fact that a lack of insistence on the integrity of language and selection of the aptest definition of a word when employing it will cause more confusion in the long term. For example, here’s my own advocacy of anarchism without using any “buzzwords” (anarchism, socialism, communism, capitalism, libertarianism, etc.), and even referring to the “standard” definition of socialism as an ideology opposed to anarchism:

Problems have always emerged when power is consolidated under centralized, hierarchical organs, which accounted for the failures of fascism, communism, and other such authoritarian ideologies. I favor a more decentralist approach, however. We need to have a situation where the state and economy work for us instead of against us. That means reducing centralized control somewhat and increasing regional, municipal, and even more small-scale management, and changing the relationships between those levels of government and the upper echelons to a more coordinative one. Right now, we have an economic structure characterized by a great deal of state centralization and corporate hierarchy. Instead of that, we need to look to more small-scale enterprise, to more horizontal and decentralized management of firms (as with anything else, the people at the bottom with the practical experiences will be those with the most knowledge), and that’s how we need to make things work.