I’m continuing my reporting on the current installment of Conservative Estimate, the recently founded website that is devoted to demolishing Conservatism.
Yesterday Mr. George showed that the conflict between the profit motive and morality can result in the erosion of personal conscience.
Today he shows us how the Myth of Capitalism presents a false picture of human behavior.
Cross the orange divide to go over his latest installment.
Mr. George begins by pointing out that the Myth of Capitalism cannot account for the fact of good will:
Capitalism, rooted as it is in the Myth of Self-interest, and relying as it does on divine Providence to repair the damage done by Self-interest, leaves no room for altruism in its description of how humans relate to one another. This alone makes it a false theory.
He then notes that Mythers are inclined to compound this error by inveighing against Government, which is “the most conspicuous institution based on . . . benevolence.”
Extreme capitalists want to escape government control and regulation in order to maximize profits. They regard Government as an enemy, and because they venerate the Myth of Self-interest, they cannot understand why they should be restrained in any way from pursuing their self-interested designs.
Mr. George reminds us that Government exists for the sake of
justice,
which demands a great deal more than self-interest: it requires benevolence and altruism, and it enforces citizens to behave as if they possess those virtues. That is what Law is: the behavior everyone would show toward everyone else if everyone were virtuous.
Because of their adherence to the Myths, extreme capitalists don’t understand the role of benevolence and altruism in holding society together. This is just another way of saying that they are not concerned about justice. No wonder they find Government so onerous: they chafe at being required to act justly when they see no need for it.
Finally, Mr. George tells us that we don’t have to accept the Mythers’ vision of the world, or the economic system informed by that warped vision.
Once we understand the tremendously harmful effect that the Major Myths have had on the modern world, we can begin to break free from their tyranny, and we can begin to develop more rational, more humane, and more just economic systems that can rise from the ruins of Capitalism.
You can read the whole post
here.
Tomorrow Mr. George will talk about different economic systems that could result from correcting the errors of the Myth of Capitalism.
I’ll be reporting back each day as a new installment appears.