In an age when important issues are so oversimplified that discussion becomes inherently flawed, few subjects are as vulnerable to this impasse as economics.
Over recent decades, economics has elevated itself into a “science” with all the sense of mathematical precision that implies. But economics, and its sub-currents of invention and discovery, technological development, stock market behavior, the relationships of international trade, the impacts on individual and group economic behavior, and so forth, are not strictly a "science" in the sense that mathematical formulas and charts can predict outcomes with much accuracy. A national economy and the international economy are, if you will, living organisms. Perhaps they are a little more predictable than the weather, but not much.
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"... the Leninist-Stalinist strategy of overt takeover of non-Marxist democratic states has been transformed into the worldwide radical environmental campaigns and other disguised programs which continue to seek Marxist-inspired worldwide redistribution of capital and wealth." |
Today, the economic models of democratic capitalism that have evolved in the West over the past eight hundred years or so are under attack once again. These attacks almost always follow a traumatic economic downturn such as the U.S. financial panic of 1893, the worldwide depression of the 1930s, and similar widespread events. They are also driven today by those who wish to manipulate the plight of the majority of the world’s population who found themselves trapped in the socialist economies and totalitarian states which succeeded colonial rule.
The demise of international communism circa 1990 did not, as some might have hoped, mark the end of Marxism and its opposition to capitalism. If anything, the Leninist-Stalinist strategy of overt takeover of non-Marxist democratic states has been transformed into the worldwide radical environmental campaigns and other disguised programs which continue to seek Marxist-inspired worldwide redistribution of capital and wealth.
Hopefully, defending democratic capitalism against the propaganda, misinformation and frequent fraud of global warming and climate control fanaticism will be easier than making the case for free markets after World War II. Radical environmentalism simply is not supported by the facts. Democratic electorates around the world are now rejecting the environmentalists’ most extreme proposals. The scientific community, recognizing that their traditional political neutrality and the integrity of their information gathering have been compromised, are pulling back from earlier often hysterical warnings and claims.
Those leading the attack on modern capitalism hold up the suffering of the masses of the world in contrast to the bounty and affluence of the United States, Europe, Canada, Japan and South Korea, and call for worldwide revolution. They do so to deflect attention from their own failures, to hang onto power, and to avoid having to adopt democratic reforms themselves.
Yet the attack is not solely on capitalism. It also encompasses the vital institutions of democratic republics themselves. We also now have the phenomenon of a new hybrid government—the communist Chinese model of totalitarian capitalism. This is almost certainly politically untenable over the long-term, but nonetheless contains a grudging acknowledgment of the primacy and inevitability of the global capitalist market system.
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"Democratic capitalists shouldn’t think that genuine problems will simply go away through some laissez faire magic. They will need to employ once more incentives and ingenuity, plus their moral values based on their history and their religious faiths." |
The attack on democratic capitalism is an attack of course on free markets and human freedom. The totalitarian left (neo-Marxism) has replaced the Stalinism and fascism of the past century. In fact, regardless of its rhetoric, the political left today advocates ultimately totalitarian solutions to the issues facing government, while conservatism resists the kind of centralized government that suppresses freedom and free institutions.
Capitalism at its base, acknowledges human incentives. Democratic institutions enable the capitalist system to employ these incentives for all citizens. Democratic capitalists certainly cannot be indifferent to problems in the capitalist system. There are valid environmental concerns which need to be addressed. Not all environmentalist activists are Marxists with a hidden agenda. Democratic capitalists shouldn’t think that genuine problems will simply go away through some laissez faire magic. They will need to employ once more incentives and ingenuity, plus their moral values based on their history and their religious faiths.
The religious component is a key part in understanding the development of modern capitalism and its continuing transformation. The origins of the modern democratic capitalist system are clearly rooted in its religious as well as its political history. The so-called Judeo-Christian tradition, its biblical narrative, and the history of those who carried it forward, created over time the values, forms, rules, assumptions, and ideals of the democratic capitalist state. The free market system did not simply appear spontaneously in Western civilization, which just happened to be populated by Christians and Jews. It was created by Christians and Jews who were living out, albeit imperfectly, the day-to-day principles of their faiths.
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"The basic Judeo-Christian set of rules is the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. The rules of business and trade, long before modern corporations, banks and stock markets, came from the Hebrew Talmud which specified a whole list of ethical behaviors." |
Provided that new capitalism is accompanied by political and religious freedom, and representative democracy, it is only a matter of time before the population centers of Asia overtake the current economic leadership of the U.S. and the European Union. But genuine capitalism can only flourish where there is freedom. Other large nations and regions, such as Brazil or Russia may play a greater role in the future, but only if they resist the temptation to return to their earlier periods of authoritarianism.
The current crises of the world economic order not only involve long-term economic cycles (as do climate changes), they also require democratic nations, regardless of which specific system they follow, to resolve them. Contrary to the self-styled caudillos, dictators and other totalitarian figures now shouting at the top of their lungs, there is simply no other known system than democratic capitalism, and the principles of the religious faiths which inspired it, to take us to the next stage of world trade, cooperation and the betterment of humanity.
Barry Casselman is a poet, essayist and syndicated journalist who has written for national publications including The Weekly Standard, Politico, The Washington Examiner, The American Interest, and The Washington Times. His published works include books of poetry, short stories, and non-fiction.
