{"id":64194,"date":"2017-10-07T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=64194"},"modified":"2017-10-07T16:00:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-07T20:00:36","slug":"1st-things-rusty-reno-revisiting-updating-and-renewing-michael-novaks-the-spirit-of-democratic-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=64194","title":{"rendered":"(1st Things) Rusty Reno–revisiting, updating and renewing Michael Novak’s ‘The Spirit Of Democratic Capitalism’"},"content":{"rendered":"

And what about the third leg, the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition? Here First Things has a long record of vigorous and unstinting advocacy. I can\u2019t think of another significant journal that has been as relentless during the past generation in its warnings about the dangers of a naked public square. Yet we\u2019ve seen setback after setback, and the corporate tsunami that recently swept through Indiana after it passed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act made clear the link between global capitalism and progressive clear-cutting of traditional religious culture and morality. There are many business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and others who sympathize with our mission, of course. But they know they will be punished \u201cby the market\u201d if they speak up. \u201cBigotry is bad for business,\u201d we\u2019re told by management consultants and corporate gurus, and \u201cdiversity\u201d brings greater innovation and success. As we know, \u201cdiversity\u201d does not mean a richly textured and open society. It means agreeing with progressive cultural commitments to \u201copenness,\u201d which in turn means accepting the authority of a rigid, punitive ideological system<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Michael Novak did not foresee these outcomes when he wrote The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism any more than I did when I thrilled to his insights more than three decades ago. This should not surprise us. As Yuval Levin outlines in The Fractured Republic, America came out of the Great Depression and its mobilization for World War II with a consolidated economic, political, and social system. There was a closed, sealed quality to a great deal of social and economic life, which is why Michael and so many others were attracted to motifs of creativity and openness. Seventy years on, however, the project of deconsolidation has done its work. We now live in a fluid world in which the very idea of borders\u2014between nations as well as between the sexes\u2014seems more and more tenuous. In this context, which is our context, the genius of capitalism as Michael described it\u2014creative, open, innovative, and dynamic\u2014seems less benign. Those qualities liquefy our social relations, and even our sense of self.<\/p>\n

In his last article for First Things (\u201cThe Future of Democratic Capitalism,\u201d June\/July 2015), Michael summed up his spiritual endorsement of capitalism: \u201cFree markets are dynamic and creative because they are open to the dynamism and creativity intrinsic to our humanity.\u201d This anthropological assessment of capitalism follows the lead of John Paul II, and it\u2019s a profound reason to cherish economic liberty. But Michael did not give due emphasis to an equally important aspect of our humanity, which is our desire to give ourselves in loyalty to permanent things. As a man of faith, he certainly knew and affirmed this dimension: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But in his enthusiasm for open, upward transcendence\u2014a constant theme in his work\u2014he lost sight of our need for anchors. As a consequence, he described the anthropology of capitalism in a one-sided way. Its fearsome dynamism speaks to part of our soul, but it neglects and even works against the part that cherishes permanence.<\/p>\n

This one-sidedness needs to be corrected, for our challenges are quite different from the legacy of postwar consolidation that Michael responded to with such \u00e9lan. <\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And what about the third leg, the Judeo-Christian religious and moral tradition? Here First Things has a long record of vigorous and unstinting advocacy. I can\u2019t think of another significant journal that has been as relentless during the past generation…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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