Mary A. O’Grady’s writes extensively on Latin American affairs for the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday’s column The Pope, the State and Venezuela is quite critical of Pope Francis’ recent economic lecture and the support his statements give to statists like Venezuela’s Maduro. She uses some of the Pope’s “pull quotes” to make a rather scathing indictment of the Holy Father’s arguably Marxist interpretations of world economies. It is an assessment of what the Church has brought on itself ( at least in parts of Latin America) . . . and it’s not a pretty sight. Read the entire article here.
No Christian can doubt the love expressed in the pope’s message, which aims to shepherd the flock away from materialism. But the charge that grinding poverty in the world is the outgrowth of “the absolute autonomy of the marketplace” ignores reality. . . . Human history clearly demonstrates that when men and women, employing their free will and God-given talents, are able to innovate, produce, accumulate capital and trade even the weakest and most vulnerable are better off.
Instead the pope trusts the state, “charged with vigilance for the common good.” Why is it then that the world’s most desperate poor are concentrated in places where the state has gained an outsize role in the economy specifically on just such grounds?
Exhibit A is Venezuela. It is an instruction manual on how to increase human misery. Without competition, the Venezuelan oil monopoly is a nest of corruption and a source of untold environmental damage. . . . Among the unintended consequences of price controls are shortages, which drive hoarding for barter. . .
. . . The national chaos cultivates envy, hatred and violence.
Venezuelans need a moral authority that defends their rights to run a business, make a living, own property and preserve the purchasing power of what they earn. In short, they need a champion for a rule of law that will limit the power of the state over their person. Mother Church ought to be that voice.. . .
John Hayward writing at Human Events has an outstanding systematic response to the recent economic comments set forth as part of a “Papal Exhortation” about preaching the Gospel by Pope Francis. Hayward provides a very readable defense of market systems as superior to socialistic or big government systems of any sort. The comment section also provides very useful insightful additions to the article.
Pope Francis had some criticism for “unfettered capitalism” in his Evengelii Gaudium, and public statements he has made in concert with release of the document. My first inclination in response is to wonder where he believes this unfettered capitalism might be found, because there most certainly is no such thing in the Western world.
That’s not a minor quibble, nor is it meant as a snarky comeback. State control over private industry is a dominant fact of life around the world. There are very few places that come anywhere near the capitalist ideal of a limited government equally enforcing the property rights of all. That is the necessary – indeed, indispensable – role of government for any true capitalist.
It seems to me that the abusive situations Pope Francis has spoken out against, such as unsafe sweatshop exploitation, are more properly understood as forms of corruption, which is a failure of government. Not to let those who buy corrupt politicians off the hook, but the vendor in such sinful transactions is the one who makes it possible. The modern Left has invested great effort in making corruption respectable, conditioning citizens to accept it as standard operating procedure. The ideal of small, clean governments equally and impartially defending the rights of all has been replaced by activist super-States with busy agendas, perpetually in search of private-sector “partners” (with thick campaign checkbooks) to carry them out. . . .
History has shown us no evidence that government redistribution reduces the level of poverty in any society. On the contrary, poverty walks hand-in-hand with socialism, because the private sector inevitably shrinks as government grows, leaving fewer opportunities to be exploited by free people . . .
And the invariable result of socialist economic policy is a smaller, richer elite lording over a more impoverished population. ”Income inequality” gets worse under the rule of people who claim they are dedicated to eliminating it, as has occurred in the United States under the administration of President Barack Obama. The Obama years have been mercilessly tough on the poor and middle class, but rather profitable for rich people with a lot of assets and money to play the stock market. Travel further down the road Obama walks, and you’ll find socialist tyrants who proclaim themselves “men of the people” from the high balconies of palatial estates.
The opposite of tyranny is freedom. Capitalism is the practical and constructive expression of freedom. Free markets, secured by just and limited government, are the best way to reduce poverty, and generate the wealth necessary to afford charitable assistance to those who cannot make a good living. It’s not just practically superior, it is morally superior. How can proper respect be shown to any man or woman without respecting their rights to own property, sell their labor, engage in voluntary transactions for mutual benefit, and provide for their families? ”Thou shalt not steal” is a commandment that should not be suspended for those who claim they have big plans to improve society with their plunder.
There is much more to Hayward’s critique, read the entire article here. We thank Pope Francis for inadvertently spurring /renewing some of the best defenses of the moral superiority of free markets in service to the poor.
DLH and R Mall
