Really. It’s not Sacred Tradition

A reader observes:

This shows why capitalism is incapable of forming a rule of life. It’s about money, nothing else. You can’t blame capitalists for this. But you can take everything they say about “working hard and following the rules” with a grain of salt.

Capitalism, rather like the American system of government, depends on a reasonably Christian culture in order to keep working. Because of that association, people sometimes cherish the illusion that democratic capitalism *causes* a reasonably Christian culture. But, in fact, a case can be made that these things are constantly pumping low levels of toxin into such a culture. When the kidneys of the body politic are functioning well, such toxins get flushed from the system by means of repentance and the remembrance of certain facts like “Money isn’t everything” and “Freedom does not mean the absolute right to do whatever I want or construct my own reality.” But, as our culture is demonstrating, when consumer capitalism attains quasi-religious status, we can gradually find ourselves facing a culture every bit as filled with enmity toward the gospel as the Soviet Union. To be sure, we haven’t (yet) started murdering people who can fight back. Such is our cowardice that we only target the old, weak, and sick to the tune of a million and a half a year. But we are already a well-established system of murder for the innocent and, if things keep going as they are, we will eventually embrace a more vigorous ethos of killing as a solution to our religious differences as well. Odds are good we’ll even find a way to turn a profit on it with gladiatorial combat and human sacrifice on pay per view. Christianos ad leones!