First of all, as for your definition of Capitalism. It does not and cannot have a true definition because there are so many aspects to it. It can be considered an economic system, a political system, a social system put in place to help us run our country and is an idea all around the world.

On to your next thought; that the rich are controlling us and have been since the start of American existence. Capitalism is built for this to happen. The premise of capitalism is that through free enterprise you have the ability to make your own business, gain money, and then do whatever you want with said money. This has been available to all citizens of the United States since its inception. Now with this money the rich have used it to ensure they would not lose their money, and to make it easier to gain more money and take advantage of the more common people. This is inherent in a Capitalist system, yes.

Comparing our system of the rich controlling the poor with others such as the French on the eve on the french revolution or other monarchies in the past, or with parties in communist russia feasting while their peasantry starved is a little bit different. Our rich have taken control of our major industries and have done some things to control the commoners, but there has been no crisis of the rich vs the poor as of yet. Our democratic system, our voting policies have kept us safe so far. Our ability to tell our government what we want them to do has enabled us as a people to prevent things like this happening. There have been such acts as the Sherman Anti-trust act and many many regulations have been put in place over our 200 something year history. We have not yet become so corrupt that our democratic processes have failed us.

Capitalism does not always have to deal with money. In many of the situations of different countries you talk about it means freedom. Capitalism runs inherently with democracy, and democratic nations in Africa have a much greater chance of doing well if they are democratic rather than being run by some warlord. Nigeria had the opportunity to make themselves into a rich country, but with poor leadership on their part and corruption in high officials they sold their souls to the United States in order to quickly gain money instead of work for the health of their nation. In China communism may have worked out most of its kinks, but only after a period of complete control from the government, the people were ruled with an iron fist. They formed their system out of chaos and out of necessity they needed a strong government. That does not mean it is perfect, they have millions of people without homes or proper food or water. They still today do not have many freedoms that we think of as normal. Censorship on the Internet is prevalent there, meanwhile we have freedom of speech.

Capitalism can be corrupted, and it can be controlled to a degree by the rich, but it is the healthiest system out there. The commoners have the ability to become part of the rich, which is more than other government systems can say. The world's rich will never be regulated fully unless there is a worldwide revolution, which will not happen. We need to make it a more balanced system however, so that people are not restricted when they attempt to acquire more, but we also must not allow unfair advantages to those who are rich. There needs to be a delicate balance.