As I may have mentioned once or twice or eighteen times, we're in the middle of reading Whatever Happened to Justice? and just recently finished the preceeding book in the series, Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Although there are parts of the book that don't fit with Christianity, a lot of it does. For an example of a problem with the book, the author, Mr Maybury, talks about the American colonists' being justified in revolution against England because the king was enacting "political law" instead of "natural law." Well, he's correct about what the king was doing, and it's true that natural law is a much better way to run a country. But the apostle Paul didn't seem to concur that we may disobey the government (see Romans 13) -- except when the govt specifically orders us to disobey God.
However, there are lots of good points in the books too. Last night we were at a section that quoted Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations about the Invisible Hand. It addresses the fact that capitalism essentially works because of greed and selfishness. Now, I've heard capitalism and free markets denounced because of the greed and selfishness which is their engine. But think about it: can we avoid working in our own self-interest? Communism and socialism require a self-sacrifice that puts others ahead of ourselves. Those would be admirable traits ... if only we could summon up the strength to practice them. I mean, everybody practice them, all the time, voluntarily. But there's this little problem of sin in the world. Capitalism works because I work for my own self-interest, and in so doing, I end up serving my neighbor. (See, even that "vocation" thing works its way in here.)
Some liberals complain about the eeeevils of capitalism. And there is some truth to their complaints. However, there is also an abundance of evidence that communism doesn't work either (check out the Real Thanksgiving Story if the examples of this century aren't obvious enough). If there were no sin, of course communism would work. But hey, if there were no sin, the free market would work great too. Better to take that self-serving energy and harness it in a system that enables us to improve each other's lives, rather than simply trying to deny that people are self-centered.
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If you're in for a heavy read, check out Thomas Sowell's Knowledge and Decisions.
ReplyDeleteAmong his other points Sowell points out that capitalism has worked better because the decision-making has been decentralized to everyone.
In Communism and other social planning, a select few people need to have all the information available, with lightning speed, to tell suppliers what to supply in order to fulfill needs. There is not really a way to do this, but China is trying really hard. :) The few social planners will get things wrong, leading either to shortages or spoiled surplus.
Dan, I love Thomas Sowell's books on kids & learning & speech problems, and I've enjoyed his articles and political opinions. But your starting words "If you're in a for heavy read" is just not part of my reality. My version of "heavy read" right now is "Little House on the Prairie" and "Caddie Woodlawn" as over against those American Girl formula books. I do have a list of grown-up books that I'm going to read someday, though, and this sounds like an interesting one to add to the list. But in the meantime, thanks for the pre-digested point! (-- that's about the only way I can get things these days).
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