By Michael Kelman Portney

It’s a paradox for the ages: how do you dismantle a system that has woven itself into every facet of our lives, from the way we work to the way we think? In the case of capitalism, the answer might just lie in winning at its own game. To dismantle capitalism effectively, you have to first succeed within it, harnessing the system’s resources and influence to create the leverage necessary to challenge it from the top down.

Here’s why the only way to meaningfully challenge capitalism may be to conquer it first.

1. Access to Power and Resources

Capitalism rewards winners—those who reach the upper echelons with money, influence, and platforms that few outside the system can access. To disrupt capitalism on a broad scale, you need more than just ideals; you need the kind of financial and social capital that allows you to act with authority. Wealth provides access to the arenas where policies are crafted, where public opinion is shaped, and where real influence is exercised.

When you’ve amassed resources and influence within capitalism, you’re in a unique position to redistribute power, build alternative structures, and fund systems that counter the values capitalism upholds. Without this level of success, you’re often restricted to the margins, with limited reach and minimal ability to make widespread changes.

2. Building Influence from the Inside

Capitalism isn’t just an economic system; it’s also a social one, where prestige and authority are often defined by financial success. By achieving influence from within, you gain credibility and power that can be redirected toward dismantling the system’s hold on society. To speak out against capitalism while standing firmly within its ranks is a paradoxical position, but it also forces the system to contend with critics who can’t be ignored as outsiders.

As a capitalist “winner,” you can challenge the status quo by showing the limits, flaws, and contradictions of capitalism from a vantage point that resonates. You’re more likely to be heard by those who uphold the system because you’re critiquing it from a place of understanding and authority.

3. Subverting the System’s Tools

Capitalism has a powerful arsenal: media control, technological innovation, investment power, and branding. Winning at capitalism allows you to harness these very tools for purposes that challenge the system itself. When you’re at the top, you can fund media outlets that expose the truth, support technology initiatives that prioritize autonomy over profit, and promote sustainable businesses that undermine exploitative practices.

Capitalist success gives you the resources to create movements that rival traditional power structures. Imagine a billionaire using their wealth to fund unionization efforts, cooperative business models, or independent media focused on worker rights—these tools turn capitalism’s strengths against it.

4. Redistributing Wealth in Effective Ways

Wealth redistribution is one of the most powerful ways to counter capitalism’s wealth concentration. However, true redistribution requires resources that can only be attained by winning within the system first. The reality is that significant redistribution efforts require substantial financial backing, influence, and organization.

Once you’ve won at capitalism, you can use your wealth to fund community-driven projects, support fair wages, invest in employee-owned businesses, and back policy changes that directly benefit the working class. By becoming a successful capitalist and then redistributing that success, you transform capitalism’s rewards into tools of empowerment for others.

5. Creating Viable Alternatives

Dismantling capitalism isn’t just about tearing down what exists; it’s about building something better. Winning at capitalism allows you to fund and experiment with alternative economic models—cooperatives, social enterprises, or new forms of wealth-sharing that aren’t motivated by endless profit.

Imagine leveraging capitalist wealth to develop systems that prioritize collective well-being over individual gain. This could mean supporting public infrastructures, building tech platforms that benefit users rather than investors, or funding educational initiatives that teach future generations about alternative economies. To dismantle capitalism, we need alternatives that work—and creating those alternatives often requires capitalist success.

6. Influencing Policy and Legislation

Ultimately, changing the system requires policy and legislative reform. A successful capitalist can use their influence to lobby for reforms that limit capitalist excesses, from wealth taxes to labor protections. Financial success enables access to lawmakers and policymakers, opening doors that are otherwise closed to those without capital.

By becoming a player in the capitalist system, you position yourself to advocate for policies that dismantle its worst excesses from within, shaping laws that redistribute wealth, protect workers, and mitigate corporate power. Success within capitalism can also mean the ability to contribute to political campaigns, back reformist candidates, and fund think tanks that challenge the status quo.

7. Revealing the Flaws from a Place of Authority

To critique capitalism without being seen as “bitter” or “anti-success,” it helps to succeed within it first. By winning the capitalist game and then pointing out its failures, you expose the system’s flaws from an undeniable perspective. When someone who has succeeded in capitalism highlights its contradictions, the critique is harder to dismiss.

Success allows you to reveal the exploitative structures that remain hidden to those without capital. By showing that even winners in the system see its faults, you expose capitalism’s unsustainable nature. It’s one thing to be anti-capitalist from the outside, but when those on the inside critique it, the system itself is forced to reckon with that discontent.

Final Thoughts: Winning to Undermine the Game

In the end, the strategy to dismantle capitalism by winning at it is about turning the system’s strengths against itself. By achieving success within capitalism, you gain resources, influence, and platforms that can be used to build a fairer, more inclusive future. Rather than rejecting the tools that capitalism offers, you wield them with intent, creating opportunities to reshape the very landscape you’ve conquered.

True, it’s a paradox—but in Trump’s America, and in the broader landscape of hyper-capitalism, paradox might be the most effective path forward. To challenge capitalism, you have to play its game, beat it at its own rules, and then use those winnings to change the game entirely.