Vol. 42, No. 03
03/01/2026
The Health of Nations: Prosperity Derives From Morality, Not Materialism
Capitalism and socialism are close cousins in that they idolize the economic value of human beings over all other characteristics that make us human, such as personality, conscience, intellect, imagination, family, and, most importantly, the eternal soul. Despite their centuries-long reputation as ideological opposites, their rivalry stems from competition for the same materialistic goal. Indeed, under both systems, humans are reduced to units of production, consumption, and labor; the soul is ignored, and therefore implicitly denied. The logical conclusion is that people are disposable if they do not contribute to the material economy. Hence, abortion and euthanasia are not only acceptable, but expected.
Karl Marx famously reduced people to economic units in The Communist Manifesto, categorizing them as mere “labor power,” which he defined as the core human value. He may have criticized capitalism for turning the worker into “an appendage of the machine,” but his ideology was guilty of the same.
However, the criticism was well deserved. Though Adam Smith placed his theories within a moral framework, the “Father of Capitalism” famously observed in The Wealth of Nations that individuals are motivated by self-interest, and that society benefits from individuals pursuing their selfish intent. Today, capitalism, unfettered by moral constraints, concludes that human worth is measured by productivity and income. The character Gordon Gekko encapsulated contemporary thought in the 1987 film Wall Street; “greed is good” became a modern mantra, rounding out the enthronement of the seven deadly sins in our society.
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