By Vanesa Brashier, editor and publisher of Bluebonnet News
Somewhere along the way, capitalism became a dirty word. I am not exactly sure when that happened, but I am not imagining it.
A Gallup poll in September 2025 found that only 54 percent of Americans have a positive view of capitalism, down from 60 percent in 2021 and 61 percent when Gallup first asked the question in 2010.
The numbers among younger Americans really caught my attention. Only 43 percent of adults ages 18 to 34 viewed capitalism positively, while 49 percent had a positive view of socialism.
More confusing is people’s opinion of “free enterprise,” which enjoys a favorability among 81 percent of people polled. This confuses me. Apparently, we like free enterprise. We just aren’t nearly as fond of capitalism.
Maybe it is the word itself. Maybe when people hear “capitalism,” they picture Wall Street, enormous corporations, and billionaires flying around in private jets.
When I think about capitalism, I think about people I know who work for themselves. The man who starts a lawn business with a mower and a trailer. The woman who turns something she makes at her kitchen table into a business. The mechanic who works all day and fixes somebody’s truck in the evening for extra money. The mom-and-pop operations who support school groups with their hard-earned money.
I see capitalism as someone who sees an opportunity and does something with it. Maybe that’s why I have always encouraged that streak in my own family.
All three of my daughters are enterprising in their own ways, and I commend them for it every chance I get. Now I am seeing the same thing in my grandchildren.
One of my oldest grandsons is a hustler, and I mean that as a compliment. He is homeschooled, and after he finishes his schoolwork, he works two jobs. He is also perfectly happy to pick up extra work around our property.
His younger brother is beginning to show the same tendencies. They want money. I have chores.
This works out beautifully, particularly over this past year as I have battled an injury that ultimately was resolved with surgery last month.
There is always something that needs doing around my house, and this grandmother is perfectly willing to pay if somebody else is willing to do it. More importantly, they are learning that if they want extra money, they can earn it. They can look around and ask, “What can I do?” I hope they never lose that instinct.
My son-in-law David certainly understands it. He didn’t get an easy start in life. His circumstances growing up were far from ideal, and at 17, he was homeless. Today, he owns a thriving business.
I am very proud of him. I know where he started, and I know the life he has today didn’t simply fall into his lap. He made something out of his life.
Maybe that is why I have such a hard time understanding the resentment that sometimes surrounds financial success. Take Elon Musk, for example. You don’t have to like the man or agree with everything he says or does, but the man has helped create more in one lifetime than most of us could in several. Why should I resent him for becoming enormously wealthy in the process? His actions also led to more than 4,400 current and former employees of his company SpaceX becoming millionaires overnight when the company went public.
Someone else’s success does not take anything away from me. I realize capitalism certainly is not perfect. Nothing involving human beings is ever flawless. Gallup found that Americans who criticize capitalism frequently point to inequality, greed and corporate power.
Fair enough. Greed exists and people can be exploited. Companies can behave badly, but profit isn’t greed, success isn’t exploitation, and someone having more than I do doesn’t necessarily mean something was taken from me.
All of this seems particularly worth thinking about as we head into another election cycle.
There are candidates today who openly identify as democratic socialists, and organizations working to elect them. The Democratic Socialists of America doesn’t hide what it wants. Candidates seeking its national endorsement must publicly identify as socialist or democratic socialist, and the organization’s electoral arm says its ultimate goal is to build a socialist party and end capitalism.
I am happy to know where they stand. It’s on the opposite side of where I am as a small business person. What concerns me is that socialism is gaining appeal among younger Americans who may have little firsthand understanding of what happens when governments take greater control of economic life.
History should at least make us cautious. The centrally planned economies of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe struggled with shortages, distorted prices, weak incentives and declining competitiveness before many ultimately abandoned central planning for market-based systems.
We would be foolish not to learn something from that.
And then there is that word we all love: “free.” Free college. Free health care. Free programs. Free services. Except none of it is actually free.
There are people working for it. Someone is producing it and others are paying for it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help people. Of course we should. There are people who genuinely need a hand, and any one of us could find ourselves in that position someday.
But there is a difference between being grateful that help is there when you need it and believing you are entitled to have someone else provide the life you want.
I don’t expect everyone to love capitalism. Free free to question it, debate it and point out its failures. Hold businesses accountable when they behave badly, but first, understand what you are criticizing.
Capitalism doesn’t promise that everyone will end up with the same amount of money. It doesn’t promise that every risk will pay off or that everyone who works hard will become wealthy.
What it does offer is the freedom to try, to work, build, create, take a chance, succeed or fail, and try again. That’s why I am tired of hearing capitalism treated like a dirty word.
So go ahead and call me old-fashioned, but I still believe there is dignity in earning something, value in ambition and nothing shameful about success. I want my grandchildren to grow up asking, “What can I do?” instead of “What am I owed?”
Maybe Americans really do need to experience more socialism before some of us understand what we are so eager to embrace. My suspicion is that once we get a taste of it, plenty of people will start running the other direction.
I just hope we don’t have to do too much damage before we figure it out.