To Believe or Not? A Divided American Economy

To declare the many economic changes to early America as “truly revolutionary” would be to establish that America somehow “invented” success through capitalism. Many people today like to think of America as the foundational creator of evil corporate capitalism. That would in fact be misleading, as capitalism has been around since the medieval times. Historian Gilje and Fernand Braudel, both recognized and acknowledged from a communal standpoint that “the emergence of western capitalism to the development of city states at the end of the medieval period.”[1]

America refined successful economics that brought her the success she earned. The issues lie within the secular paradigm that is overwhelmingly present in America. It seems that it was secularism that high-jacked America’s traditional prosperity and punctually drove it off a cliff.[2] Secularism puts God completely out of the equation when it comes to ethics and morals.

Secularists hold the view that “religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education. Also, that “exclusive attention to the present life and its duties, and the relegation of all considerations regarding a future life to a secondary place; the system of the secularists; the ignoring or exclusion of religious duties, instruction, or considerations.”[3]

An Honest Wealth of Nations
Historian Lamoreaux mentions, “Henretta has ‘acknowledged the existence of capitalist values and activities among a portion of the rural population,’ but he used the numerical subordination of that portion to justify his emphasis on ‘a rather different worldview among the majority of farm families.’ It is important to note, however, that many historians do not accept this characterization for farmers in the middle Atlantic and southern regions, whom they regard as much more oriented toward market production than farmers elsewhere.”[4]

I find that the heart of economic success lies in a culture’s religion. Thus, the primary reason that world nations are in poverty is due to a lack of spiritual resources and truth. When you compare the factors of production in Christian and secular societies, it clearly shows you why some countries are successful and other fail. Historian Wolfe writes, “While men and women in every country try to multiply their human energies with the help of tools in order to transform natural resources into useful goods and services, Christian free societies generally do it more efficiently than others.”[5]

A research study made by Dr. Browning of the different income ratios of differing nations and people groups reinforces this observation. He wrote that “between protestant and catholic groups it was noted consistently that the protestant countries had higher per capita income than the catholic countries. But those who were not Christian had no income or low incomes or were starving to death.”[6]

Sure nations like Japan are successful, but the only reason they even made it there in the first place is because “they have simply imitated the principles and techniques on which America’s original prosperity was built.”[7] These are principles which actually grew out of our Christian-American society (and which have been seemingly abandoned today).

Profit Motives
Man’s material welfare increases in a Christian Society because Christian faith and character assist to “enlarge, vitalize, and improve” the key factors of economic production. Once again, Historian Wolfe writes, “The economic incentives of freedom are also important. To find and process natural resources such as oil and minerals is extremely costly. So is the protracted process of researching, developing and producing new and more efficient power tools. The profit motive provides individuals with the needed incentive in a Christian free economy based on individual enterprise.”

“History shows that in a Christian free economy… men tend to invent more and better tools, invest more in producing those tools, and use those tools more efficiently than in a secular society with limited economic freedom.”[8]

If you look at the historical record of current events, there are many nations that have operated on a communistic style of economic principle. This kills off profit motive. As a reaction, these governments have slowly opened to allow more individual enterprise because it allows people to be more successful. China and Russia are two great examples here. Russia, in recent years, has begun to let “each farming family 2-3 acres of ground to operate privately and sell its produce in the local market. These tiny private farm plots produce more meat, vegetables and fruit than all of the huge government farms combined.”[9]

So ultimately, communal farming with absolutely zero incentive and doesn’t work for Christians who all have common visions, goals, and purposes. I mean look, the Pilgrims offered up a great example with the first couple years in America. They were bound to a communal contract with their financial backers over in England. It was the lack of incentive to work resulted in such poor crops, they almost starved off. Once Governor Bradford switched over to private enterprise, everyone was able to live abundantly off the land.[10]
 


Daniel L. Smith,
ComplexAmerica.org



Resources:
[1] Gilje, Paul A. "The Rise of Capitalism in the Early Republic." Journal of the Early Republic 16, no. 2 (1996): 159-81. Accessed September 28, 2020. doi:10.2307/3124244.
[2] How to Understand the Purpose behind Humanism, 7. Booklet published by Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts, 1983.
[3] "Secularism." In The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2018.
[4] Lamoreaux, Naomi R. 2003. "Rethinking the Transition to Capitalism in the Early American Northeast." The Journal of American History 90 (2) (09): 437-461. https://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fdocview%2F224892264%3Faccountid%3D3783.
[5] Wolfe, Charles H., and James B. Rose. "The Principle Approach to American Christian Economics." In A Guide to American Christian Education for the Home and School, the Principle Approach, 398. Palo Cedro, CA: American Christian History Institute, 1983.
[6] Anthony, Greg. Biblical Economics, 13. 1988.
[7] Wolfe, 398.
[8] Ibid, 403.
[9] Skousen, Leon. Study Guide to the Making of America.
[10] Bradford, William. Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation": From the Original Manuscript; with a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts, 162. 1898.