A timely article given that our largest city is about to essentially drink to excess and get behind the wheel by electing a socialist incapable of a clear vision
https://lawliberty.org/virtue-economics/
Virtue Economics vs. the Myth of EqualityIf mechanistic objectivity and science envy are one source of resistance to virtue economics, another is modern thought’s obsession with equality. It resists any suggestion that wealth or poverty might reflect differences in virtue, often resorting to moral outrage or conspiracy thinking when the argument gets difficult. Democratic and communist ideals have long glorified the poor at the expense of the rich, while fascism and populism twist the same theme for their own ends. We remain willfully blind to the moral foundations of prosperity because we hesitate to admit that virtue often produces wealth, and vice, poverty.
Instead, the deserving rich, classes and nations alike, should remember that much virtue is inherited: you do well by doing good because that’s what you were taught. Practice noblesse oblige towards others who were not so fortunate.
Virtue economics is an uphill battle, but it’s worth the fight. It warns against killing the goose—virtue—that lays the golden eggs. Virtue must be maintained through families, churches, and honorable institutions. And while the quiet collaboration of virtue and capitalism has done much to better the human condition, it could do much more if we were more intentional about making virtue and capitalism work together.
Although noblesse oblige endures—billions flow each year from the wealthy who want to give back—the modern bias is not to trust it, but instead, to stand up government bureaucracies to do what noblesse oblige could do better. A brighter future awaits if we let virtue economics unlock it.
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