The Lesser of Two Evils

Many thanks to Jim West for bringing recent news about liberation theology to our attention. What I find most troubling about most of the discussions of religion and economics is that we find ourselves choosing ‘the lesser of two evils’, as though our only options are Capitalism and Communism in a more or less pure form. My wife is from Romania and I lived there for three years, and I certainly find persuasive the argument that human nature makes Communism unworkable. When everyone is paid regardless of productivity, then everyone pretends to work, and when everyone is paid the same, no one works harder than absolutely necessary. In Britain, which tries to get the best of both worlds (capitalism and socialism), and where I lived for even longer, being on the ‘dole’ is considered a perfectly acceptable option, and can discourage one from seeking gainful employment if one will only make slightly more.

But does that just leave us with pure Capitalism? Hardly. I wish we’d have more discussion of other models, such as the ‘Basic Income’ approach. Everyone gets a bare minimum income, and then everyone who works gets taxed at a very high rate (say 80%), but however much they make, they keep.

Instead of debating which of the two major systems is better, I’d like to see economists, ethicists and philosophers engage in more creative brainstorming to see whether there aren’t possible ways to have a society that encourages creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit, but that also achieves justice and a modicum of equality, without making everyone the same (which, as Harrison Bergeron observed in the movie based on famous story by Kurt Vonnegut, is not the same thing).