Capitalism, Politics, Morality

Marx' thesis that Economics is the Base of Politics, not an extrinsic concern of it, is exemplified by Capitalism implicitly being a Plutocratic political system.  Thus, while the U. S. is nominally a Democracy, the Constitutional status of a corporation a Person, with its political expenditures Free Speech, makes it not only de facto but de jure a Plutocracy.  Still, Marx leaves unaddressed the status of Morality in his critique of Capitalism, though his rejection of Exploitation does presuppose some Moral principle.  Thus, he offers no diagnosis of the Capitalist principle that one ought to seek to maximize profit, which, as normative, qualifies as a Moral principle.  That classification is not evaded by the descriptive version of the principle, i. e. that Profit-seeking is the fundamental behavioral impulse, since the latter is still subject to normative evaluation, and possible correction, just like any impulse that meets disapproval. Thus, the criticism of that principle as an expression of Greed, previously discussed, is an example of a Moral criticism of Capitalism that has generally been lacking in Political-Economy discourse.