Culture War
The principle headline in the Outlook section of this Sunday's Washington Post read: "The New Culture War", the subheading continued: "On one side, the forces of free enterprise. On the other, an expanding and paternalistic government. It is time to choose." The author, Arthur C. Brooks, argues that a liberal minority now in power, supported by maybe 30 percent of the population, are actively seeking to remake America in the image of a European-style social state. The culture war is the clash of the standard, uniquely American absolutely free enterprise legacy system with the progressive, egalitarian, extremely regulated, state managed society. These ends, Brooks declares, are mutually exclusive. We now stand at a crossroads of history. We must decide on a course.
Initially Brooks presents the perspective of competition, dominance and materialism facing off squarely against equality, social justice, and penchant for shared resources. The two camps may well be represented by Wall Street barons on 1 side and utopian opportunists on the other. A proponent of social harmony will see small value in the 'ambition of greed' argument more than the 'substance of charity' offering.
Brooks, appealing to anti-government sentiment, employs no less than the likes of Thomas Jefferson quoting, "A wise and frugal government...shall restrain men from injuring one a different, shall leave them otherwise totally free to regulate their own pursuits of sector and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of superior government." A robust and forceful passage, no doubt, but it leaves unrecognized the contemporary realities of the risk of technologies and mass market levers in the hands of a couple of, conscienceless men whose motivations are self-aggrandizement, fame and fortune. The absolutely free enterprise argument stumbles then falls when it overlooks the responsibility inherent in freedom.
No man is an island unto himself. Greed, avarice and the systems that support these vices impact us all. In the face of grave threats, a government, of the men and women, by the people, for the people must act. But, acting to combat greed can, by way of redistribution of wealth (as "social" governments seek to do), effortlessly develop into an additional obsession toward power - one veiled by the perceived legitimacy of government.
Brooks, nonetheless, ultimately redeems himself. He develops his case additional and turns his rhetoric from praising accumulation and rather turns to a basic human will need - the yearning to produce a thing of value. For you see, the strength of a no cost marketplace is not in the wealth the method purports to amass. The power, promise and ultimate prosperity of a zero cost enterprise method is the creative power it unleashes. Brooks here quotes Benjamin Franklin, "Dollars never ever made a man content yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he desires. Rather of filling a vacuum, it makes one." The key, Brooks suggests, is "earning" happiness.
The important ingredient to a prosperous society is the ability to pursue happiness on your own terms. To act for the benefit of others applying your own power, enthusiasm and talent you make your own utopia. The state, regardless of what it provides, or how it redistributes assets, can't get or deliver a appropriate substitute for self sufficiency.
The state, our state, the United States, was founded with a fundamental duty to promote the pursuit of happiness. Even though some, usually a tiny minority, who seek to impose government solutions to social challenges, may be motivated by an intention of promoting happiness, the truth is, one only realizes happiness in the pursuit. Social engineering does not, will not and can't bring about happiness. Motivated people, acting toward mutually useful, cooperative ends will accomplish happiness greatest by means of a absolutely free and enterprising program.
A culture war may be brewing. Let's not let the contrast be drawn among the revenue grubbers and soulless bureaucrats. Success, for an individual, as for a society, is a function of the values and motivation of the masses. Do not ever lose sight - the problem is not about how to divide up the dollars. The job of government and of business is enable consumers to make. We have to have not be at war.
