Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who announced last week his 2020 bid for the White House, said questions about presidential candidates being capitalists or socialists were “silly.”

Hickenlooper said, “We define people by these labels that often have all kinds of associations and baggage with them in that sense. Do I believe in small business? Of course, I believe in small business.”

He continued, “I think it’s kind of a silly question. We should look at some of the reasons why we have less and less start-ups. We should look at the reasons why more and more people aren’t wanting to start a business.”

He added, “Once you get back into these labels, am I capitalist, am I socialist, how much of a capitalist am I versus how much of a socialist — it becomes kind of silly doesn’t it?”

When pressed, Hickenlooper said, “I’m happy to say I’m a capitalist, but I think at a certain point the labels do nothing but divide us. And what I’m trying to build this campaign around is as a country we’ve got to stop finding every excuse to divide ourselves.”

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