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Branco's assertion does not, however, stop with the implication that capitalism can lead to corruption. He also acknowledges that originally liberal democracies have come to accept a specific type of political equality known as the equality of opportunity. Yet, in recent years this type of equality seems to be giving way largely due to the fact that in most liberal democracies welfare liberalism is giving way to neo-liberalism and thus equality of opportunity is now giving way to equality of right. For Branco, this movement towards overall inequality is due to the low value capitalist nations place upon social programs. Once again, Branco provides an astute argument that holds that capitalism is undermining one of the key values of liberal democracy. While this argument certainly has some validity it is unfair to claim that liberal democracy is being weakened just because liberal democracies have shifted their views slightly to the right in terms of what kind of equality they offer to their citizens. A shift in some of the values that liberal democracy represents does not mean it is being contradicted by capitalism, quite the contrary, this signals that the definition of what makes a liberal democracy is evolving just like numerous other concepts and ideologies before it. .
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Critics of a partnership between capitalism and liberal democracy point to the aforementioned political equality as a contentious issue between the two ideologies. They neglect, however, to acknowledge that the relationship between the two is also symbiotic in that these ideologies are co-dependent. The individual freedoms and rule of law that a liberal democracy guarantees may, in fact, be the best example of this considering these values are cornerstones for both capitalism and liberal democracy. For capitalism, individual rights and the rule of law are a necessity. Without them the key cogs of capitalism like consumer sovereignty and the right to association cannot exist.
