
Andrew Sullivan has a helpful post on the way that conservatives–both so-called “theoconservatives” and “neoconservatives”–have been responding to Pope Francis’s critique of capitalism. Good thoughts here on the meaning of Catholicism (and I would argue all of Christianity) and American exceptionalism.
Here is a taste:
There is, for example, little doubt that the free market has brought more wealth, comfort and health to more human beings than any other form of economic model in human history. The last three hundred years have improved our material lot more than the previous 200,000. Socialism is a grim failure of a system, communism even worse. But what all these systems have in common is a materialist vision of what makes human life worth living. That’s not a criticism in particular. Most such systems do not have within their remit a deeper understanding of human existence, a grounding in something other than prosperity. A Catholic, however, has exactly that grounding, which enables us to examine all such systems from different, higher ground.
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