The last few years have seen a great deal of corruption uncovered, both in terms of governance but also in the realm of idealogy.
I used to be a staunch defender of classical liberalism, and blindly supported capitalism. I am now the enemy of both.
To be sure, I value freedom and also believe in open markets, but markets for their own sake simply result in commodifying everything. There has to be some limit, otherwise we revert to the days of slave trading and indentured labor.
Some years ago I pointed out that a great many American see profit as a sacred duty. The golden calf they worship is “market efficiency” and anything that gets in the way – such as quality of life or safe, cohesive and prosperous communities – needs to get out of the way.
The dedication of May 1st as a feast day of St. Joseph was no accident. The purpose was to make it clear that while the Catholic Church saw the value in markets, they were not flawless creations, and that without Christian ethics and charity, they would become just as oppressive as Communism.
We have seen this playing out in real time. Communist China is now the most rapacious capitalist system ever devised. In many ways it represents the highest form of capitalism where every aspect of society is built around the rich getting richer. Religion itself has been pushed aside and corrupted, with many of the Buddhist temples being converted into tourist traps and merchandizing brands.
(Speaking of China, Pope Leo must prioritize dissolving the corrupt concordat with the CCP. This is a grave scandal.)
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the Church has spoken out against the exploitation of workers and the valorization of wealth that celebrates conspicuous consumption rather than charity. Such is the state of things that simply repeating this ancient teaching causes a great many “conservatives” to brand the Pope a Communist, which is both absurd and not at all surprising.
Like it or not, Calvinist Protestant churches may be in decline, but the idea of the Elect, whose prosperity in this world heralds salvation in the next, is very much alive and well. There is a very ugly strain of thought that holds the poor deserve their fate because of laziness and poor decisions on their part.
There are undoubtedly examples of this being true, but it ignores the ways in which the working class and now the middle class has been systematically broken down to work longer and harder for less, all the while being told that it’s actually an improvement.
Perhaps the strongest indictment of capitalism is the decline of the American family, both in terms of real wages, household wealth, and birth rate. The case for capitalism, particularly during the Cold War, was that it raises up society as a whole, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” as it were. But that trend reversed decades ago. Tech boats rise, industrial boats sink. For a while, it was management vs blue collar labor, but now even the back-office personnel are feeling the pinch.
There is noting virtuous about requiring advances societies to compete against slave labor, and the hyperbolic claims about tariffs being the worst thing ever is really about the ruling class protecting its profits. I’ve touched on this before, but the complete collapse of inflation over the last year prove that taxes don’t cause inflation.
Sadly, a great many Christian (even Catholic) thinkers, believe this nonsense. Hopefully ongoing events will reveal to them the extent of their folly.
The Gospels are full of exhortations to pay workers their due, and also the importance of charity. Workers are not just a factor of production, and the state cannot replace true charity, as ongoing corruption scandals amply demonstrate.
St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us.
Chateau Lloyd 
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