THE COMMANDMENTS OF CAPITALISM
Is life fair?

 

RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM: argument against government funded social programs, believes that those who are successful simply are smarter, work harder and have more ambition than those who don't.  Thus, the poor, by definition, tend to be less intelligent, more lazy and less ambitious than the rich (or else they too would be rich)!  The hero of rugged individualism is the "up by his bootstraps" millionaire, such as those written about by Horatio Alger.

 

HORATIO ALGER: author of books about a fictional character from turn of the century literature, Ragged Dick; the "self-made man." Ragged was a poor orphan boy who sold newspapers and by working non-stop and extraordinary thrift was able to buy his own store, hire other boys to sell papers and before he was thirty years old, assemble a business empire worth over one million dollars.

 

PURITAN ETHIC: An important foundation for both of these beliefs is the idea (often called the American Dream) that hard work and sacrifice will lead to luxury and prosperity.  Much of this faith can be traced to early English religious cults such as the Puritans, who believed in the value of "work for its own sake."  They believed that people who didn't spend every waking hour working were apt to be tempted by evil e.g. day-dream about sex.  Poor Richard's Almanac, and early collection of sayings published by Ben Franklin embodies much of the Puritan ethic:

 

            -"Early to bed early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

            -"Waste not want not." 

            -"God helps them that help themselves."

            -"Eat to live, not live to eat." 

            -"Lost time is never found again."

            -"Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments."

-"A little neglect may breed mischief...for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; for want of a horse the rider was lost."

            -"An empty bag cannot stand upright."

 

LAISSEZ-FAIRE: "hands off", believes the best government is one which leaves business alone.  The "free market" and the so-called "laws of supply and demand" alone should regulate business.  In his 18th century book The Wealth of Nations, Englishman Adam Smith argues for Laissez-faire capitalism.

 

SOCIAL DARWINISM: applied scientific (and much pseudo-scientific) theory to economics.  Argued that in business, as in biology, "survival of the fittest" was nature's law.  Thus, a millionaire represented the natural evolution of mankind's best qualities, while those who were poor represented evolutionary dead-ends.  Sterilization was seen as the best answer to poverty.  Carnegie, the steel billionaire, was a leading proponent of Social Darwinism.  The Bell Curve is a recent best-selling book that espouses similar ideas.

 

INFLUENCE OF THE FRONTIER: for much our history, America was a country with an abundance of land; more land than people- especially if you didn't count Native Americans.  According to U.S. historian Frederick Jackson Turner, moving to the frontier, or the possibility of moving there, provided a "safety valve" for American Society.  Thus, frontier families, often widely separated from one another, embodied self-sufficiency, independence from government authority, and the Puritan ethic.

 

REAGANOMICS: economic policies of Reagan/Bush.  Tax cuts for the wealthy are justified as the "trickle-down" theory at work; in other words, if the rich get richer, they will buy more yachts, cars, security guards and so on.  These investments will create more jobs for the rest of us, the economy will be stimulated and we all will be better off.  Reagan/Bush also advocate deregulation or more laissez-faire.  "Trickle-down" was also Hoover's answer to the Great Depression.

 

1.      According to the "Commandments of Capitalism", is it a fair world regarding who has money and who doesn't?

 

2.      Would supporters of welfare, unemployment insurance, and social security programs agree with the commandments on this page?  Why or why not?

 

3.      Relate Social Darwinism to other theories you may have heard before. Explain the similarities.

 

4.      Identify any “Horatio Alger stories” you know of that are not in the sports or entertainment filed.