You can’t trust progressivism to fix crony capitalism
Progressivism claims to “save capitalism from itself.” But it’s only ever spurred crony capitalism, and you don’t need to go far to see it.
Progressives love to rail against greedy corporations, until those same corporations fly a rainbow flag, sponsor a social justice panel, or fund a climate initiative. Suddenly, they’re not the enemy anymore; they’re “doing the work.”
One minute, billionaires are destroying the planet. The next, they’re heroic allies because they post a DEI statement or fire a guy over a wrongthink tweet.
It’s a power movement that speaks the right language, not a movement against it.
And from a libertarian lens, it’s easy to see the game: Progressives are dressing up corporate power in friendlier colors, not dismantling it.
The real antidote? Cut the state-corporate cord entirely.
The progressive-corporate alliance is already here
Let’s stop pretending it’s not. If progressives truly believed corporations were evil, they wouldn’t worship:
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Amazon, because it funds climate panels,
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Disney, because it features a token same-sex kiss,
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BlackRock, because it says “ESG” three times in a board meeting.
They treat slogans like substance, but behind the scenes, these same corporations:
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Lobby for tighter regulations to crush competition
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Exploit labor while preaching inclusion
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Dodge taxes while demanding you pay more
It’s about optics, not justice.
Undercover Boss was propaganda in a hoodie
Want to see the hypocrisy in high-def? Watch an episode of the old flick Undercover Boss.
A billionaire CEO throws on a bad wig, visits some frontline employees, and is shocked to discover the company he runs has issues.
So what happens?
He gives one employee a scholarship, another a vacation, sheds a tear, and boom, he’s a hero. Cue the emotional music and fade to black.
But are there always structural reforms or changes in policy? What about transparency? Or, are they just one-time handouts and a fresh coat of PR polish?
And progressives? They eat it up because it feels good. I mean, the show was on a moderately progressive network, if you remember it right.
Crony capitalism is the real problem here
Progressives scream about capitalism, but what they’re really raging against is crony capitalism—the marriage of big business and big government.
But here’s the problem: They want a remarriage on their terms, not a divorce.
Meanwhile, the crony ecosystem keeps humming:
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Bailouts for politically favored industries.
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Subsidies for megacorps that toe the right ideological line.
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Regulations so complex only giant firms with world-class legal teams can survive them.
Small businesses? Locked out. Startups? Crushed before they scale. Innovation? Replaced with compliance.
And who built this system?
Not free-market capitalists or liberty-minded entrepreneurs. Bureaucrats and corporate lobbyists colluded with central planners and PR consultants, if you want the truth.
The libertarian antidote
Libertarians don’t want to “reform” this corrupt structure. We want to kill it. From a personal perspective, here’s what I’d like to see:
End all corporate welfare: No more tax breaks, handouts, or sweetheart contracts. You sink or swim on merit, not connections.
Eliminate regulatory moats: Ditch the licensing laws, zoning restrictions, and red tape that protect Goliaths and punish Davids. Let the small fish compete freely. That’s real economic justice.
Let the market punish bad actors: If a company exploits workers or pushes authoritarian values, don’t “rescue it”; let consumers walk away. Let it die. That’s what accountability looks like.
Separation of corporation and state: Just like we once separated church and state, it’s time to separate business and government. No more revolving doors between Washington and Wall Street, or backroom deals dressed up as legislation.
You want something close to equality? Start there.
Progressives want power and control
This is the uncomfortable truth: Progressivism wants to replace the people at the top, but it has no interest in replacing corporate hierarchies.
They want a controlled market that obeys their vision, not an open market.
The moment a corporation says the right buzzwords, flies the right flag, or funds the right program, it’s magically exempt from scrutiny.
They cheer when Visa bans political dissidents from using their services, clap when YouTube demonetizes unpopular opinions, and celebrate when the state-corporate machine silences their enemies.
That’s authoritarianism in drag, not progress.
Progressivism isn’t the antidote to crony capitalism
You can’t claim to fight corporate tyranny when you’re begging the state to enforce your values through it, or scream about capitalism while propping up billionaires who parrot your slogans. And you sure as hell can’t fix a rigged system with more of the same bureaucracy that made it this way.
Progressives want to redistribute power, while libertarians want to abolish it.
The real revolution isn’t more laws. It’s less government, less collusion, and less control.
If you hate corporate tyranny, stop dressing it up in rainbow pins and ESG reports. Burn the crony machine to the ground, and set the market free.
Experience a society free of cronyism
You can find the truth in fiction, and luckily, I got a book series out there that sets the stage to counteract this mess. My libertarian young adult academy fantasy series, Arcane Elemental Academy, introduces you to a region run on pure free market capitalism, and one our main character is surprised to see operate so well.
No, the region isn’t a utopia, and that’s what makes it so authentic. There’s not a single perfect economic system out there, contrary to what so many progressives want to believe. But damn it, it’s as close to perfect as you can get if you value markets.
If you made it this far, I’m assuming you’re interested in learning more. So, check out the prequel novella, Arcane Awakenings, which chronicles Yote Diamondback’s final days as a middle schooler, and a few months before she ventures into this awesome society.
