Where Are LA's Capitalists?
Revolution required.
Los Angeles’s capitalists have gone missing from political action. San Francisco offers a telling contrast: capitalist-backed lawmakers now dominate City Hall, and voters recently rejected a socialist revenue measure. In LA, the picture is reversed: socialists field viable candidates for mayor and city attorney, and they just won a revenue measure of their own.
As Noema Magazine observed in a recent essay on America at 250, elections are won by whoever bothers to organize. San Francisco’s capitalists took that lesson to heart, building robust networks of political activists and channeling millions of dollars into ballot measures, opposition campaigns, candidates, and political organizations. LA’s capitalists have done none of this. The socialists are organized. The capitalists are asleep.
Socialists have capitalists on the run in LA. The question is who will answer the call. Two organizations — Thrive Los Angeles and Vibrant LA — are trying, but they need far more support than they’re getting. As the country marks the anniversary of its founding revolution, Angeleno capitalists would do well to remember Tocqueville’s warning: everything starts with local political engagement.
Maybe include Businessmen and women, people who trade services for money, and people who make things and sell those things. I think people are losing sight of producing for oneself and engaging the community through trade and production. In other words, speak to the actions and I think you will find the Capitalists. These are the people who will invest their money in good ideas, people, and the future.
I think startup culture used to address this but no longer does. The idea of starting a business in your garage.