Home » Opinion » Book review
The empty ‘deity’ of capitalism
Print Edition
IN reading Michael Harrington’s “The Politics at God’s Funeral: The Spiritual Crisis of Western Civilization,” I remembered a conversation I had once had with a beloved nephew in which I cautioned him that he needed “to be careful about what you do come to believe in.”
In truth, we all believe in something by which we order our lives and govern our behavior, even if it is only in ourselves. From my perspective, it seems that the West in general, and the United States especially, places its faith in the false promise of “the market.”
Although published in the 1980s, Michael Harrington’s “The Politics at God’s Funeral” remains a brilliant encapsulation of the consequences of such a belief.
While not immediately apparent at the time, the intellectual ferment spawned by the advent of the scientific method in the 17th century and newfound confidence in the power of human reason in the Enlightenment of the 18th century caused a gradual undermining of previously unshakable structures.
For a brief period in the 18th century, it seemed that the clarifying power of human reason might credibly merit humanity’s faith: surely clear-thinking men and women, freed from the false “knowledge” of myth and doctrine, would welcome decisions flowing from the calm deliberation of scientifically determined facts!
Sadly, no! The horrific convulsions of the French Revolution shattered this naïve confidence in the power of serene reason, providing to all a savage reminder that humans are also subject to a deep well of unreason that is equally part of human nature.
This helps explain why the 19th century in the West was a time of multi-layered discontents and searching for meaning. Some came to believe that a more just and equitable society could be achieved only by overthrowing the existing order, while others embraced various causes or ideologies whose logical paths seemed to promise redemption from civil disorder and suffering.
Most ominously, however, were those who transferred their faith to the newly empowered “nation-state,” believing that only it could be the ultimate source and instrument of enduring order. The 20th century, with its numerous wars and genocides occasioned by self-proclaimed “men of destiny,” grimly illustrates the consequence of such misplaced faith.
Faith in unfettered market
Americans have erred in believing that they have avoided such transference of faith. In fact, they have failed to notice how they have embraced another pernicious form of substitute religion: faith in capitalism’s “unfettered market.”
Not only has this “faith” guided American foreign policy — and its economic self-interests — from the very beginning, but also it has also warped citizens’ understanding of the “freedom” envisioned by their Founders. It seems that most have forgotten that freedom actually has two components:
1. A negative function of protecting citizens from government intrusion into one’s personal affairs or unwarranted government regulation of business, and,
2. The positive function of liberating individuals from those constraints that would otherwise limit their ability to attain fullness of life (such as adequate health care, good education, and worthwhile employment offering fair wages). This “fullness” is what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when, in the Declaration of Independence, he declared that the “pursuit of happiness” was one of the basic rights of human beings.
For the past half-century, however, the conservative ascendency in the United States has been hammering home the message that true freedom means primarily (or only) freedom from government in all of its forms.
While framed as vigilance towards protecting individuals from intrusion by an overly active and inimical “government,” it is actually a mantra designed to help the wealthy elite and their corporate allies dodge their responsibilities toward the common good of both the nation and the global community while they continue to reap an ever-greater share of wealth.
But it is the freedom to become which is the stuff of which dreams are made: moving people to strive for a more just and equitable society, a true community of the many, and helping us to conceive of the kind of country we would like to live in rather than accepting the “way things are” as but the inevitable outcome of the mysterious workings of the semi-deified “market.”
As Harrington warned, the “de facto atheism [of] late capitalism society” is “a thoughtless, normless, selfish, hedonistic individualism,” a logical outcome of placing “faith” in an economic system that callously determines the price of everything while, in fact, knowing the value of nothing.
The author was a member of the Iowa State House of Representatives and also served in the Iowa executive branch. He retired in 2004. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
