Debate XV: Resolved, That Capitalism Suffocates Human Flourishing
CAPITALISM EATS MAN. It fills his plate and takes his field. A man flourishes in what is his own: the land he works, the trade he knows, the household he heads. Capitalism is the order that gathers these into fewer and fewer hands and leases him what was once his. It did not find the wage laborer in nature; it made him, by enclosing the ground that fed him, and it keeps him by a market in which fortunes grow and no one works. The richer such a country becomes, the fewer in it own anything, and a man who owns nothing is not fed but kept. A people is measured not by what it consumes but by what it holds. A nation may grow fat enough to rent everything and own nothing. That is not a feast; it is a feedlot.
Yet; CAPITALISM FEEDS MAN. From the first furrow to the age of steam, man ate what he grew and died as his grandfather had died. Then he was set free to think, to build and to trade, and within a few generations the poor had light, clean water, and longer lives than any king before them. This was no accident of the age; it is the consequence of permitting a man to live by his own judgment. No one can think for him any more than eat for him, and capitalism alone does not pretend to: it asks no permission of him and sets no master over him but the men he serves. Every other order lays a hand upon his shoulder and calls the hand the common good. The feast was not bestowed upon man; it was earned by him, and only a free man earns.
The Hamilton Society is joined by esteemed guests:
Yaron Brook, Chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute. Served in Israeli military intelligence, took a doctorate in and professor of finance. Author of Free Market Revolution.
Nikos Sotirakopoulos, Ex-Communist, Doctorate in political sociology, scholar and author.
Marc Barnes, Editor, New Polity. Doctor of theology. Author of “Pope John Paul II Against Capitalism.” Professor at the College of St. Joseph the Worker.
Alex Denley, Managing Editor of New Polity and host of its podcast. Master of Theological Science, Franciscan University of Steubenville. Writing a book on Catholic social teaching.
For first-timers, note that this is not a 1v1 debate. The Hamilton Society model is parliamentary: caucus members will be able to speak, time permitting.
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