The Pope, Inequality and Soical Evil
A recent article on the Huffington Post, commented on a tweet by the Pope (in and of itself an interesting concept) that “Inequality is the root of social evil.” Of course this is one of the problems with twitter, pithy it may be, but clear it is not. Just what does he mean by “Inequality” and just what is a “social evil.” These are left unexplained, and in such cases the reader is left to fill in the meaning of these terms as they see fit.
Inequality is probably economic inequality, but given the vast array of inequalities among people it need not be. People are individuals, and thus by definition not equal. We are not all equal in height, age, experience, background, abilities. In fact, differences between people abound, and that is what makes us each unique. Still I suspect that the Pope is referring to economic inequality.
If economic inequality is the root of social evil, then why is economic inequality not a major concern of the Bible? Sure, the Bible says we are to be concerned for the poor and disadvantaged, but that is just not the same thing as being concerned with economic inequality. Economic inequality is a political agenda, not a biblical concern.
More problematic is what he means by the term “social evil.” In my book, What is Wrong with Social Justice, I show that if you have to put a modifier in front of Justice, you no longer have Justice. The same holds true here. If you have to put a modifier on evil, you no longer have evil.
So what does the Pope mean by social evil? It cannot be economic inequality itself. If that were the case, you would end up with economic inequality is the cause of economic inequality, which is nonsensical. So what is a social evil? Poverty? This would be a good candidate, but inequality hardly causes it. Poverty is where humanity started, and inequality occurs as some people escape poverty.
Crime might also be considered a social evil, but inequality does not cause this, nor does poverty cause it. While those on the left often make this claim, it is not backed up by the evidence. For example, the Great Depression, which saw a marked increase in poverty also had a marked decrease in crime. The bottom line is that crime is a moral problem, not an economic problem.
So ultimately, it is not clear what the Pope means by social evil, but this should not be that surprising, as his earlier statements condemning “unfettered capitalism” were equally confused. Just what is “unfettered capitalism?” Again if you have to add a modifier, like Social Justice is not Justice, unfettered Capitalism is not Capitalism.
The core problem with the Pope’s statement is that he sees inequality as a problem. It is not, it is a natural and necessary part of the solution. Even a cursory examination of history will show that poverty is the normal state for humanity. Much, but not all, of human history has been the struggle of people to provide a better life for themselves.
In this struggle out of poverty, nothing has improved the standard of living of more people than has capitalism. This improvement has not only provided wealth, it has improved nearly every aspect of life. In light of this, the Pope’s criticism of inequality is truly misplaced. Inequality is going to happen as some people successfully escape poverty. The only way to avoid inequality, is to come up with a system that would allow everyone to rise out of poverty simultaneously. But, while there have been many proposals, all have been dismal failures. Not only have they failed to improve people’s lives, as I point out in What is Wrong with Social Justice, those governments that focus on Social Justice, actually end up with greater economic inequality, not less.
Attacks on inequality, and particularly those that attack capitalism, such as the recent protests on Wall Street, are misguided. They attack the very thing that has been most effective in raising people out of poverty and improving their lives. Rather than focus on economic inequality, it would be much more productive to focus on economic mobility, the ability for those who are poor to work their way up out of poverty. It is not inequality, but a lack of economic mobility that oppresses people and keeps them in poverty. That would be a much better subject for the Pope’s tweets.
