Capitalism without values is evil! So is socialism! Socialism without values actually looks a lot like capitalism without values! Adam Smith said that his ideas regarding the free-market economy needs good values to work properly. And I think part of what's wrong today is that we have divorced entrepreneurship, business and commerce from its roots! To save the West from its decline, going back to what made us great is mandatory!
Let's take an example: Verizon in America. The deep hole Verizon is in regarding both customer perception and their official financial reports is evidenced by a quick look at the news and threads on reddit.com. This wasn't always the case, if my memory serves me well, being a Verizon customer in the United States was considered a source of pride: the price tag was justified by good service, reliability and trust in that remaining steady. This is a textbook case of what happens when we forget that money, power and fame are meant to serve God, family and country.
Today we have a theory: that the publicly traded corporation (like Verizon, McDonald's and United Healthcare) is a sociopath. Why? Because the publicly traded corporation only cares about profit. Thus, this legal person that is the corporation can and must be held morally accountable. It is not evil per se, I'm more worried about improductive rent-seekers behind institutional stockholding entities.
But, the wealth "extraction, accumulation, and reinvestment engine" that is today's S&P 500 corporation, that is actually necessary. The corporation as we know it today is a test: can America control the power our forefathers in the New World worked for? The corporation can and must test the government’s limit. The survival of the fittest is a quintessential, or ideal, American ideal.
This doesn't rule out, being one nation under God, its necessary counterpart: Christ tought himself and via prophets who announced his glad message that compassion of the weak is important, that we must love others just as God, we being less than him, loved us so much he sent his son to suffer for our cause.
All of this we find in a godly document, one of the most important in world history: the U.S. Constitution. The government must promote the common welfare, make sure that our posterity enjoys the blessings of Liberty, regulate commerce and even money. When money is used to speculate, for example, via gambling in the "casino capitalism game", and it hurts ourselves and our posterity, the government must act. When corporations run amok, I see a scenario where one of the most powerful nations on earth is being tested against itself. This is similar to when one mentors a younger fellow, and you do your job so well, the younger fellow gives you a run for your money!
What are the roots of Verizon? At some point in American history, the rich guy in town was beloved, seeing as godly, his wealth evidence of his rightful standing before our Lord's eyes and the wise stewarding of said wealth just more evidence. These guys didn't believe in money for money's sake. On the contrary, money was meant to serve a greater good: a very Christian idea, Catholics have it but in Protestants in America we see it more clearly (most of the S&P 500 were founded by protestants after all, Domino's is an exception).
This idea takes form via our calling to civilise via promotion of rule of law, mastery of our domains beginning with our bodies, literacy and education in all forms as well as giving to charity. It might not seem obvious, but when I teach people to budget I'm spreading the gospel. The gospel is meant to elevate humanity from savagery to a more God-gloryifing state. And the fellow is going to need that skill anyways if he joins a church which practices tithing on one's increases.
So, how did this look in practice regarding the telecom industry? When the government in the U.S. was broke after the Civil War, brave entrepreneurs believed it was their mission to help elevate humanity via their country's development. This explains why America is so pro-business, when compared to other Western states such as Germany, Spain and Canada.
When the phone was invented, "the rich guy in town" obviously thought that invention was going to help elevate humanity. Now we could work faster and better, respond more quickly to emergencies and save lives, as well as promote the gospel that made it all possible in the first place in even more places!
Some people like John D. Rockefeller took their calling in a special way, maybe because it was a special calling. Once the rich guys in town had everything set up, Rockefeller found a way to outsmart others. He invented the "modern monopoly" as we know it is an oversimplification, but he certainly played a role in using economic freedom to centralize economic power! At some point he claimed he was being punished for using the talents God gave him. However, he was never found guilty of criminal charges.
This illustrates the example of Verizon: from the rich guys in town making sure their communities had access to the phone, to better merchants finding a way to make this better in meritocratic America where actions speak louder than nobiliary titles and last names, to today: a test on whether the government of the people, for the people and by the people will keep the peace, enforce the rules, and then get out of the way of the player like the good referee making sure guys who chose American Football and Rugby over Soccer have all the skills needed to become better men and stay safe!
This essay wouldn't be complete without mention of people who have helped make America great and may not fit the traditional mold of what it means to be a succesful American. Mary Ellen Pleasant: What do fans of Californian society have to thank her for?
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