Capitalism and Immorality.

• Author: Leef, George

The Enduring Tension: Capitalism and the Moral Order

By Donald J. Devine

371 pp.; Encounter

Books, 2020

The economic system based on private property, individual rights, and limited government--that is to say, capitalism--did not emerge by chance. It required a certain moral order, one in which most of the people believed in liberty, tolerance, and something like the Golden Rule. In those places where capitalism arose, the people enjoyed prosperity and progress that far exceeded that which humans had ever before known.

And yet, attacks on capitalism for its supposed immorality abound. Going back to the 18th century, critics complained that it was upsetting the traditional social order and causing misery among the people. They claimed that it had ushered out the era of happy peasants and ushered in the dark, satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution. Those "right-wing" critics were joined in the 19th century by leftist opponents like Karl Marx, who declared that the evils of capitalism could be remedied by the abolition of private property.

In the mid-20th century, Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter observed that the institutions and beliefs that had supported capitalism were eroding and predicted that once-capitalistic nations would descend into some sort of managerial socialism unless those supports could be strengthened. He doubted that would happen.

Also apprehensive about the future of capitalism is Donald Devine in his book The Enduring Tension. A scholar with The Fund for American Studies and former political science professor, Devine has penned a book that provides much food for thought. Just how thin is the ice beneath the feet of capitalism's defenders and is there anything we could do to keep from plunging into the icy depths?

Devine writes, "The tension between freedom and order is fundamental to capitalist civilization and also the central challenge it faces today." His book provides a historical account of the various strands of thought on the supposed need to "tame" or "rationalize" capitalism to render it morally tolerable through government intervention, if not to do away with it altogether.

Philosophical and religious views / John Locke was one of the first philosophers to argue that capitalism stood on a solid moral foundation. A religious man, Locke saw no Christian grounds to criticize the non-coercive acquisition of property. His views are not without detractors. Some of his contemporaries complained that his...