Exalting the City of Man

By WALTER ISAACSON

An intellectual defense of civilization's "last, best hope"

"Democratic capitalism is neither the Kingdom of God nor without sin. Yet all other known systems of political economy are worse." So writes Michael Novak, a Roman Catholic intellectual and socialist turned neoconservative, in a spirited (and spiritual) new defense. Reflecting on the "new order" in America that European-influenced moral philosophers have long ignored, Novak argues that democracy and a free economy are the natural embodiment of the ideals of liberty and individual worth that are the foundation of the Judeo-Christian tradition. "Such hope as we have for alleviating poverty and for removing oppressive tyranny--perhaps our last, best hope--lies in this much despised system," he writes in The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (Simon & Schuster; 433 pages; $17.50).

Democratic capitalism embodies three elements: a free-market economy, a political system based on individual rights, and a moral pluralism that respects different cultural goals and beliefs. Such social philosophers as Max Weber (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism) and Daniel Bell (The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism) have contended that these elements are often in conflict, and that a liberal society must balance the competing forces of democracy, economic freedom and social justice. Not so, answers Novak. Capitalism and democracy complement one another. They are inevitable outgrowths of the same moral tradition, and it is no accident that they tend to go hand in hand in the real world. He writes: "Political democracy is compatible in practice only with a market economy. In turn, both systems nourish and are best nourished by a pluralistic liberal culture."

In the 20th century, socialism as a visionary ideal has appealed to such diverse religious thinkers as Protestant Theologian Paul Tillich and the Catholic clergy who advocate a quasi-Marxist "liberation theology" in Latin America. "Any serious Christian must be a socialist," Tillich once said. Yet those who are hostile to capitalism, Novak writes, tend to compare its flaws in practice with a utopian vision of socialism, ignoring the reality that socialism in practice tends to be economically incoherent and politically repressive. Democratic socialism is a doomed dream because it ignores the "necessary connection between economic liberty and political liberty." A democratic system that respects individual rights, argues Novak, "is bound to be drawn to an economic system" that allows individuals to produce and trade freely.

Against those theologians who argue that democracy tends to fall prey to moral relativism by not exalting a unified vision of "the good," Novak responds that pluralism, which is the respect for each individual's own personal goals, allows mankind to realize a greater moral vision. Against those who argue that capitalism is based on selfish materialism, he responds that it tends to expand the wealth of all citizens by providing incentives for productivity. The marriage of pluralism and productivity best realizes the Christian ideal of caritas, or the compassionate love of fellow human beings.

Novak, 48, came to these convictions by a circuitous route. Born into a family of Slovak immigrants in an industrial town in western Pennsylvania, he identified with a European Catholic concept of a "third way"--a religious socialism that rejected both capitalism and Marxism. Novak spent twelve years studying for the priesthood, leaving the seminary shortly before his scheduled ordination. He has taught at Stanford and Syracuse universities, among other schools, and supported the political campaigns of Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and Edmund Muskie. A socialist until 1977, Novak is now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington.

Two of Novak's intellectual mentors were philosophers who embraced, and then edged away from, the socialist ideal. The American Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who set forth his visions of the social gospel in Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), eventually became convinced that some form of free-market capitalism was essential to liberty and democracy. France's Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain espoused a utopian vision of society in his 1936 work Integral Humanism; in Reflections on America, published 22 years later, Maritain expressed surprise that many of his humanistic ideals had been realized by the capitalist system in the U.S. Novak's own intellectual odyssey was analogous: "I used to think socialism was a good idea, but nobody has made it work yet. I moved to the realization that the idea itself is wrong."

A registered Democrat, Novak now supports Ronald Reagan. "I think Reagan is saving the New Deal in the same way Franklin Roosevelt saved capitalism. Programs are out of control. Reagan is cutting them at the high end in order to save them for the poor." The Administration's great flaw, he believes, is not setting forth "a social vision that makes understandable what they're doing." He sees a comparable failure by those who believe in capitalism. "There was no [intellectual] justification for capitalism because books about the subject had only been written by economists. Milton Friedman stops where all of the interesting questions begin."

The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism does not identify the City of Man that exists in the U.S. today with the City of God. "Democratic capitalism will carry a heavy burden to Judgment Day," Novak writes. Nonetheless, he seems more attentive to the inadequacies of socialism than to those of capitalism. For example, he does not address the question of whether a free-market system leads to an equitable distribution of benefits and burdens during recessionary periods, when economic growth is restricted. Nor does he adequately explore the problem of how to prevent corrupt, greedy entrepreneurs from subverting the moral goals of a society. But Novak's carefully woven theological and political argument succeeds in its overall mission: to remind readers that democratic capitalism is not only a system that truly works but at its best is a living embodiment of its own ideals. -- By Walter Isaacson

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