Doing Well vs Doing Good

This post is about why "liberals" hate 'free market capitalism', but there is some groundwork first to be laid.

"Liberals" and conservatives are very different, I think all can agree. It's not just that the two groups disagree on specific policies; it's that they see and understand the world in different ways, and indeed in contradictory ways (the "liberals" see the world falsely, and generally *refuse* to see it clearly/truly, but that's not the immediate point here).

At the root of the different world-views is this: sin -- specifically, beliefs about, or approaches to dealing with, human sinfulness --

Conservatives understand that all men -- including themselves -- are sinful, are ultimately and inescapably flawed -- even those few 'atheists' (who thus tend to deny, at least on a surface viewing, the reality of sin) who are also conservatives share this understanding. Conservatives have a tragic view of human nature; we understand that all humans are flawed and no individual, nor group, nor social tinkering, can cure us of it.

"Liberals" deny the reality of sin and human sinfulness -- at any rate, as applies to themselves -- and even those Christians who are "liberals" ultimately deny that all human beings are inescapably sinful. "Liberals" have a sentimental view of human nature (and, it's a cheap sentimentalism, at that; though, in the end, it tends to be expensive in human lives); they imagine that with the right social tinkering, they (the individual "liberals" acting collectively) can cure the rest of us of our flawed nature.


Conservatives look at the "crooked timber of humanity" and say, "OK, this is what we are given to work with: what beautiful and enduring thing can we build of it?" In contrast, "liberals" look at the "crooked timber of humanity" and shriek, "No, no, no! This will not do! We must straighten these timbers before we can commence building anything worthwhile!" To put it another way: conservatives try to work with the readily observable reality of what human beings really are like when they go about designing social structures; "liberals" are always trying to design social structures which can be used to force human beings to be other than they really are.


Here is how the above applies to 'free market capitalism' and the hatred "liberals" have for it --

The concept -- and implementation -- of 'free market capitalism' is utterly conservative and antithetical to “liberalism” because it is grounded in the recognition that all human beings are inescapably self-centered, and not infrequently, selfish. So, rather than trying to change human nature so that people will “do the right thing”, with respect to economic matters, merely because it is the right thing to do, 'free market capitalism' is purposely designed to induce men to “do the right thing” because it is in their own self-interest to do so. This has the seeming paradoxical effect, over time in each individual’s life, of training the individual to be less selfish, and even less self-centered.

That is, rather than trying to force human nature to be other than it is -- a task, could it be done in the first place, never-ending, for each new generation starts from the same place -- the conservative approach to economic matters (as in all matters) is to work with, and redirect, the innate self-centeredness (and selfishness) of human individuals to achieve non-selfish public ends.

"Liberals" look at the resulting public goods and have conniptions: "But, but, but! They’re doing this public good for private and probably selfish reasons!" the “liberal” freaks-out. For, as usual, "liberals" are more concerned with attitudes and motivations than with results -- this is the same dynamic which allows "liberals" to continuously push for all sorts of public policies, with inevitable and quite foreseeable terrible consequences, on the grounds that "my intensions are pure".


'Free market capitalism' allows and encourages individuals to strive to "do well" ... with the result -- paradoxical to the "liberal" insistence on what reality is really like -- that they also "do good" thereby. "Liberals" cannot, or rather, will not, understand how this works, and thus are compelled to try to destroy it; for, to begin to admit that it works and to understand how it works would be to begin to cease to be "liberal".

Conservatism, recognizing the unalterable self-centeredness (and frequent selfishness) of human nature, seeks not to eradicate the self-centeredness, but rather to tame and harness it toward the creation of public goods. "Liberalism", refusing to recognize the unalterable self-centeredness (and frequent selfishness) of human nature, sets it rampant ... with the inevitable result that public goods are diminished, and ultimately destroyed; but, hey! at least their "hearts are in the right places".


Understand, this is not a criticism of Mother Teresa, and certainly not in the evil and wicked spirit in which the late Christopher Hitchens condemned her, but the truth is that that worthy woman, for all her lifetime of good works, didn't do nearly as much good for mankind as does the meanest, must unremarked, honest businessman.