An “-ism” is simply what your mind is willing to put time and effort behind. In America, you may choose yours so long as it does not extinguish anyone else’s. That remains the country’s actual magic. Gather friends on a commune, raise food, distribute it collectively — have at it. History already wrote the ending. Just do not demand the rest of us underwrite the experiment. Voluntary association is one thing; compulsion is another.

No matter which -ism you prefer, you are still fed and sheltered by the personal capitalist who actually produces things and gets them to you. Adam Smith’s butcher, baker, and brewer do not supply your dinner from benevolence; they do it from regard to their own interest. Every ideology, including the ones that denounce markets, ultimately rests on the daily work of people who turn effort into goods and move those goods to the people who need them. When the -ism pretends otherwise, it simply feeds off the same producers it lectures.