The Human Condition

Hi Mindy:

The item of discussion at hand is whether compassion (esp. for the poor) should be administered voluntarily, as happens in a free society, or under compulsion by a third party, i.e. the State who confiscates resources to hand out as IT sees fit. Taking your last communication from the last paragraph first, we are agreeing that voluntarism is better. However you somehow made the need for justice into a segue into the pitfalls of capitalism. Interestingly, you used as your example the case where a transaction was made with goods (the boat) that were acquired (stolen) in an usavory way, and whether your responsibility as the buyer extends backward to the person from whom the boat was stolen in the first place. Or to put it in your context, isn't this another indictment of the free enterprise/capitalistic system?

Ironically, it is the American free enterprise system that has put safeguards in place to protect against that sort of thing. We have elaborate product and service guarantees so that the buyer gets what they paid for. This is borne out of our Business Law that was originally taught from Blackstone's commentaries in our law schools. He was a believer. Although now dead, there is a Christian legal society with his name on it. Anyway, in our system, the seller covenants that the product is what he says it is, and if not, your money is returned and he agrees to deal with the problem. Since the seller is the guarantor, he is on the hook for hot or inferior goods. If your conscience still bothers you, you can always intervene in his pursuit of reparations from his supplier, and offer to pay it yourself. I frankly think that is misplaced and that the Lord wouldn't expect you to use family resources in a matter that is no longer your concern. From what I know of socialism, this paragraph would not be on their screen.

Yes, while our system has been so wildly successful in raising the standard of living of everyone, the largest and most wealthy of American firms have accumulated enough resources to tempt many to get around the system. We lie, we cheat, we steal. No I'm not talking just about business persons. It's all of us. It's the human condition. Are you implying that having the government dispense resources would be corruption free? By the way, buying and selling, bartering, trading have been going on these last 6,000 years. All that time, free enterprise was taking place in some form. Capitalism was too. Whomever had a product to sell or barter, had to have capital to make that product. They were capitalists. To somehow suddenly make the American business system the bogeyman is to face down the most successful generator of wealth for everyone, ever. It became that way because old familiar ways of doing business were done in a framework of constraints put in place by biblical law. It worked. If many have their way, it will become the enemy, not the solution. Too bad. Too bad for all of us, esp the poor.

Blessings,
Dad

PS: The Plain Dealer today, Sunday Sept 6th, had a great section with pieces from several perspectives on pages G3, G5. Did you notice that the American Conference of Catholic Bishops believe that health care is a "right"?