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Papitalism

Pope

In his new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti,” Pope Francis continues his attacks upon capitalism.

“The marketplace, by itself, cannot resolve every problem, however much we are asked to believe this dogma of neoliberal faith.” Capitalism “does not resolve the inequality that gives rise to new forms of violence. . . . The fragility of world systems in the face of the pandemic has demonstrated that not everything can be resolved by market freedom.”

What caused the inequality? Nature? Predation? Production? Inequality caused by theft and serfdom is a problem; inequality caused by production and freedom is not.

The pain of lockdowns (whether justified or not) is inflicted by massive restrictions on capitalism. And it turns out these government programs — pandemic “mitigation efforts” — will likely hit poor countries the hardest, causing (as the UN fears) mass starvation.

The pope cannot blame capitalism for that inequality!

Also, which champions of capitalism contend that capitalism resolves (instantly?) “every” problem? 

Capitalism is the socio-economic system characterized by freedom of production and exchange and by respect for property rights. It enables us to earn a living and make plans without worrying that we will be continuously robbed and our plans continuously derailed by governments. A free society shouldn’t pretend it can fix every problem, but it provides many incentives and opportunities to solve, or at least cope with, the problems of life. When free, we can speak and act as we judge best. 

And learn from our mistakes.

It would be a grave mistake to think that capitalism must be blamed for natural inequality, or for government actions to shut down production and commerce in order (we are told) to fight a virus. 

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Photo of Pope Francis by Catholic Church England

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crime and punishment general freedom ideological culture moral hazard nannyism national politics & policies Second Amendment rights too much government U.S. Constitution

The Good vs. Freedom?

Second Amendment, gun control, freedom, Washington Post, Elizabeth Bruenig, pope, Middle Ages

Politicians regularly argue for new “gun control” laws, even while ignoring the execution and enforcement of laws already on the books.

Exhibit A, as I wrote at Townhall.com yesterday, is the failure of the military to provide the FBI with the information that would have blocked the Sutherland Springs church shooter from getting his guns.

Meanwhile, in the Washington Post’s Outlook section, Elizabeth Bruenig takes a more . . . philosophical perspective. She contends that “Western thought moved from seeing freedom as a means to an end — what philosophers call ‘the good’ — to seeing freedom as an end in itself. Thanks to our liberal heritage, we regard freedom as an intrinsic good, perhaps the highest one of all. The more of it we can get, the better off we are. Right?”

Right!

But Bruenig’s answer isn’t in the affirmative.

Instead, she points to Vatican elections during the Middle Ages in which “canon law enshrined the right of eligible individuals to cast their votes. But their choices . . . could simply be overturned [by church officials]. Freedom mattered, in other words, but was always subordinate to the highest good, which could sometimes place limits on liberty.”

Ah, the Post advises us to embrace the Middle Ages . . . just so our freedom doesn’t get out-of-hand.

Bruenig also thinks that “we largely lack the framework to ask what gun ownership is for. . . .”

Huh? The Second Amendment answers that gun ownership is “necessary to the security of a free state.”

In terms of both scholarship and insight, the Founders’ constitutionalism far outshines the Post’s shiny new neo-medievalism.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Common Sense general freedom ideological culture

No Reconciliation with Communism

Pope, Castro, Vatican, Cuba, collage, photomontage, illustration, Paul Jacob, James Gill, Common Sense

Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro over the weekend.

It’s not the first time the Bishop of Rome has met with a dictator, in Cuba or elsewhere. But it is the first time this particular pope has done so.

Next stop on this tour? The United States.

The pope’s most pointed words were directed not to the Communist nation but south by southwest, to Colombia, from where hail contestant parties to peace talks (the government versus leftist insurrectionists) now being held in Havana. The pope wishes no breakdown in the talks, urging that the world cannot afford “another failure on the path of peace and reconciliation.”

Pope Francis has been credited with the thawing of cold war relations between the United States and Cuba, and, for his part, praises both parties for the detente, which he has dubbed “an example of reconciliation for the whole world.”

But Cuba remains under tyranny; the people cannot speak freely and are impoverished under the thumb of socialistic regulation. The pope may not be seeing elements of causality here, of teleology, of purpose: Cuba’s poverty is not caused by the American embargo, really, but by a pernicious attachment to outdated ideas of government supremacy over people.

Unfortunately, many of the pope’s most famous remonstrances about capitalism suggest that he may be closer to the Castro brothers’ oppressive Marxist ideology than to a more liberatory approach.

While the pope publicly prays for reconciliation, Americans would be better off if we repudiated reconciliation with destructive ideas that too easily get packaged as “humane” and “Christian” when they are really, and deeply, precisely the opposite.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Pope, Castro, Vatican, Cuba, collage, photomontage, illustration, Paul Jacob, James Gill, Common Sense