A few weeks ago, the Orlando Sentinel had an article about "Ms. Monopoly" that caught my attention. The article discussed the newest version of Monopoly, which highlights the gender gap pay and gives credit to the woman who invented the ever-popular board-game, Monopoly. However, Hasbro has missed the mark on this one. Changing the direction of the game from the original Capitalism theme to a kind of gender-friendly entrepreneurial theme was not the intent of the original creator.

More than a century ago, Lizzie Magie introduced this game as "The Landlord's Game" to Charles Darrow. He changed the name and sold it to Parker Brothers for a mere $500.00. In 1904, Magie received a patent for a square board that resembles today's Monopoly game. She even had railroads, utilities, and properties, as well as a corner with a jail cell. Magie's goal for the game was to teach society the rules of monopolists and anti-monopolists. However, it was lost in the redevelopment of the game and years of capitalists profiting off her brainchild.

The article brought me to this question, can someone be a socialist and not have capitalist ideals? I believe I am a socialist, but what about capitalism and do I truly know what each "ism" is? That led me to some fun and creative websites that gave me food for thought.

The average person will tell you a capitalist is greedy and selfish and has no interest in anyone other than themselves but the meaning is working for their piece of the pie without harming others. On the opposite spectrum, most will say a socialist is selfless and is willing to give their shirt off their backs for the greater good. Unfortunately, this is far from true, because socialism is a group or system that governs the distribution of wealth and benefits so everyone is equally helped.

The capitalists of the early 19th-century were more of a democratic, industrial ideal. However, the Democrats became more liberal and broke away from these ideals as industrial lobbyists spent time influencing the political climate to remove regulations. The Democrats turned to socialism to hold the government in check, yet in my opinion, it has lost its focus of the people they are trying to help. With more regulations and an overreaching government holding the entrepreneur back from their slice of the American pie, the economy suffers and the wealthy few keep that white-knuckle grip on their slice.

When I googled, "Who is a famous Socialist?" the list astounded me. The top five people are:

• Hugo Chavez – the late Supremo of Venezuela
• Nicholas Maduro – the current president of Venezuela
• Evo Morales – the current president of Bolivia
• Fidel Castro – the late leader of Cuba
• Dilma Rousseff – the impeached president of Brazil

So, who are the top five Capitalists? The list is just as interesting:

• Ayn Rand – once stated, "Laissez-faire capitalism is the only social system based on the recognition of individual rights and, therefore, the only system that bans force from social relationships."
• Milton Friedman – his book Capitalism and Freedom is one of the more popular non-fictions defenses of free-market capitalism.
• Friedrich Hayek – a noble laureate for his work on the socialist calculation debate, was an economist who wrote openly for the liberal order defined by free markets.
• Ron Paul – it is been argued that he "created" more believers in capitalism than anybody else.
• Ludwig von Mises – fled the rise of Nazi Germany and primary work is on credit theory, the role of central banks on business cycles, and the relationship between fascism and socialism.

I found the list of people that support socialism to be just as surprising. The top five are:

• Martin Luther King Jr., - in a letter to his future wife, Coretta Scott, King said that she must "already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic . . . It [capitalism] started out with a noble and high motive . . . but like most human systems it falls victim to the very thing it was revolting against. So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness."
• Nelson Mandela – in a speech he gave at his trial before being imprisoned, "to no particular system of society other than of socialism."
• George Orwell – he opposed the totalitarian variant of "socialism" in the Soviet Union, but not socialism itself. He believed "One has to be actively a Socialist, not merely sympathetic to Socialism."
• Pablo Picasso – he was a lifelong member of the Communist Party.
• Helen Keller – she was a socialist and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World. She believed the American political system was rigged and stated, "Our democracy is but a name."

In the next year, the conversation regarding who is a socialist or capitalist will be discussed in detail by candidates and the media. It is important to understand that neither is an answer to picking a leader for our country. I learned I have more capitalist ideals than socialist, but I am all for helping those who need help. However, not at the cost of my piece of the pie. As a product of the welfare system in the 1960s and 1970s, I would not be here if it wasn't for those benefits my single mother was able to receive. I learned to stand on my own two feet and take care of my family and myself, which is what every candidate's platform should be based upon.