Is Socialism is the Beating Heart of Capitalism?

(1) Eisenhower breaking ground on the Interstate Highway System, (2) Nixon signing landmark environmental laws, and (3) WWII veterans benefiting from the GI Bill by attending college or buying homes. (AI generated)

I started a company in my garage, twenty years ago, with £54,000 in government startup grants, and subsequently millions of pounds more over subsequent years. I raised several million pounds in venture capital over those two decades. I led a team, developed breakthrough technology, filed 50 patents, and we created many ‘world firsts’.

I am unapologetically a capitalist.

But here’s the truth: I could never have done it without a lot of help from the state.

My Story

I failed high school. But government grants allowed me to attend Stafford Polytechnic and then Salford University. Government-funded research supported my family and I through a physics PhD at Cambridge University.

My autistic son has thrived due to state healthcare and special education. As a trans woman, I accessed gender-affirming care through public health services. And when a wild stag gored me through the throat, I was airlifted by helicopter, operated on for hours, and kept alive for a week in a coma; by the public healthcare system.

Without public investment, I would never have become the capitalist I am today.

Defining Our Terms

When I say socialism, I don’t mean state-controlled economies or an absence of free markets. I mean robust, strategic public investments in health, education, infrastructure, and equal opportunities. By capitalism, I mean a system driven by private innovation, competition, and enterprise.

What We All Want

Let me be clear: We all want the same thing. We want a world where, if you work hard, play by the rules, take risks, and build something, you have a real shot at success. That’s not a left or right idea, it’s a human idea, a capitalist idea; the very essence of the American Dream.

We want ambition to matter. We want creativity to be rewarded. We want fairness, not because it’s charity, but because fairness makes the game real, and victory meaningful.

What Happens When the Game is Rigged?

But here's the problem: What if the game is rigged? What if no matter how hard you work, the house always wins?

Since the 1970s, U.S. worker productivity surged by over 60%, yet real wages stagnated. EPI Meanwhile, corporate profits and CEO pay exploded. Today, the top 1% control over 30% of U.S. wealth, while the bottom 50% hold less than 2%. Fortune

In the UK, child poverty rates hover around 30%, even as FTSE 100 CEOs earn, on average, 113 times the median UK worker’s salary. CPAG The Guardian

This isn't capitalism. This isn't freedom. This is extraction, monopoly, oligarchy, a slow slide toward fascism, where wealth becomes power, and power locks the door behind it.

Addressing Common Concerns

Some might worry that public investment creates dependency or threatens freedom. History proves otherwise. Bipartisan-supported programs like Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System and Nixon’s establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency didn't breed dependency, they drove innovation, economic growth, and national prosperity.

Refuting the Lie

Critics say socialism kills ambition and innovation. They claim fairness limits freedom. But history and evidence say otherwise.

The truth is, without balanced public investment, capitalism becomes a game few can truly win. With balance, fairness, and opportunity, capitalism thrives as a dynamic, rewarding, opportunity-rich system where prosperity lifts the many, not just the few.

History’s Bipartisan Lessons

The greatest periods of capitalist success have always been built on robust social investment — and importantly, much of that investment was championed, maintained, or expanded by both Democrats and Republicans.

• Postwar America (1945–1975): The bipartisan-supported GI Bill educated 8 million veterans, providing home loans, tuition, and business funding, fueling the largest middle class the world has ever seen. The U.S. economy grew by 400% while top tax rates exceeded 70%, and no one labeled it “anti-capitalist.” Bill of Rights Institute

  
  

• Scandinavia Today: Denmark, Sweden, and Norway maintain some of the world’s most competitive economies while offering universal healthcare, free higher education, and strong worker protections. These nations consistently top global rankings for entrepreneurship, innovation, and quality of life. IMD world Competitiveness Ranking

  
  

• Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System (1956): Championed by a Republican president, this massive federal project stitched the nation together, fueling decades of private sector growth — from trucking and logistics to suburban development and manufacturing. It was a perfect example of public investment creating the conditions for capitalist success. Army

  
  

• Nixon’s Environmental Protections (1970s): Republican President Richard Nixon signed landmark environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and created the Environmental Protection Agency — bold public actions that not only safeguarded public health but also sparked new markets in environmental technology, compliance, and innovation. Nixon Library

These examples illustrate how ambitious public investment, embraced historically by both parties, fuels greater innovation, prosperity, and genuine capitalism.

The Real Political Map

This isn’t left versus right. It's balance.

• Capitalism focuses on the corporation.

  
  

• Socialism focuses on the citizen.

  
  

Where they overlap, that’s where prosperity thrives. Push too far right, you get corporate rule: fascism. Push too far left, you get state rule: communism.

The healthy system, the system that built the American Dream, lives at the center, where fairness feeds ambition, and ambition lifts everyone.

The Pie is Big Enough

There is plenty of pie.

We don’t all need the same sized slice, but we all need enough:

• Enough to survive.

  
  

• Enough to rise.

  
  

• Enough to contribute and compete.

  
  

That’s how the pie grows. That’s how the dream stays alive. When one greedy hand grabs the knife, hoarding the biggest slice and leaving nothing for the rest, resentment grows. Inequality is not sustainable, and the greedy inevitably regret the world they create.

The Core Truth

Public investment isn't a threat to capitalism. It's the foundation of capitalism’s success.

Without fairness, capitalism collapses into oligarchy, authoritarianism, fascism. Without ambition, socialism collapses into stagnation and control.

But where they meet, we find the best of both worlds:

• A society where anyone can rise.

• A system where prosperity is earned.

• A reality where freedom is genuine.

  
  

In this balanced system, the American Dream isn’t just a story for the privileged few, it becomes a reality accessible to all.

You don't have to shift left or right. You don't have to change teams.

Just recognize the truth that's always been there: Healthy capitalism and socialism walk together.

If you believe in hard work, innovation, and fair play, then, perhaps without realizing it, you’ve always supported this kind of pragmatic, socially conscious capitalism.

That’s where freedom lives. That’s where prosperity thrives. That’s the future worth fighting for.

Written with assistance of AI