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Wesley's paradox

Long-time SMI contributor Mike Cave forwarded me an extremely insightful article recently, questioning whether free markets can survive in a secularized world. It begins:

The 18th Century English cleric and theologian John Wesley was troubled by a paradox that emerged as his teaching spread. He, like other Protestant thinkers stretching back to Calvin, taught that one could honor God through hard work and thrift. The subsequent burst of industry and frugality generated by Wesley's message improved the lot of many of his working-class followers and helped advance capitalism in England. But, "wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion,"? Wesley observed, and subsequently pride and greed are growing more common, he complained.

Wesley could see only the beginnings of this trend; two hundred years later, the world is reaping the full brunt of its aftermath. So where do we go from here?

The meltdown of the financial markets in the last few months has left us grappling with how we can keep markets free and principled at the same time. The only debate so far is between those who want more government regulation - who want to impose from the outside via the regulator's eye the restraint that our institutions once tried to instill in us - and those who think that more government will only undermine our prosperity. Neither side seems to be winning the public debate because most Americans are probably equally as appalled by the shortcomings of the markets as they are by the prospect of more government control of them.

A weighty subject to say the least. Can free markets stay free when the majority of their participants no longer hold to the traditional "Protestant Ethic"? While obviously a return to values like thrift and honesty aren't enough to save a man's soul, is it possible for our society to return to those values short of a widespread religious revival? And if so, will that be enough to allow another run of prosperity for our economy after the current poisons are flushed from the ailing economy's body?

Let's open this up and discuss - your comments on these questions, or any other related thoughts, are invited below.

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