Making a moral case for capitalism

[Valin]

Philly.com:

Arthur C. Brooks

10/21/12

 

Earlier this month in the first presidential debate, Mitt Romney made an unusual argument by modern political standards: that long-term deficit spending is not just an economic issue, but a moral one. "I think it's . . . not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to be passed on to the next generation."

 

This is a notable occurrence, not just because Romney is frequently chided for being cool and detached, but because it represents a return to something our founders knew but succeeding generations have forgotten: Limited government and individual liberty aren't merely policy alternatives. They're moral imperatives.

 

(Snip)

 

Day after day, politicians offer one government benefit after another to our citizens. This has made a majority of Americans into net beneficiaries of the welfare state, as my colleague Nicholas Eberstadt chronicles in his new book, *Nation of Takers. While most Americans dislike the crisis and culture this has brought us, few are eager to give up their benefits. It is not compelling enough to point out that these goodies will lead to fiscal problems sometime in the future. It isn't even enough to scare citizens with threats of a Greek-style debt crisis, which will surely come if we continue to build a Greek-style social democracy with Greek-sized government.

 

(Snip)

 

* A Nation Of Takers

 

 

 

[raygun]

At this URL:

 

http://www.justiceharvard.org/

 

can be found a video library of lectures by Harvard Professor Michael Sandel. This is a treasure trove pertaining to social philosophy and the foundational element of all argument: logic. The topic of Professor Sandel's lectures pertains to "What's the Right Thing to do?"

 

Anybody who's a philosophical intellectual giant should have no problems. Anybody who's sacrificing each and every day so that their progeny receive the greatest intellectual education known to man should be aware of what the "kids" are going to be like when they come home.

 

Professor Sandel's principles are either full of cow-dung, or the heads of kids returning from the most esteemed colleges are. What I'm unclear about: what exactly is intellectual cow-dung?

[Valin]