A Moral Basis for Liberty review

A Moral Basis for Liberty by Robert Sirico
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Father Sirico is on the academic side, but makes an important point in this 30-page booklet: democratic capitalism has the moral high ground in the ongoing debate over whether it or some form of totalitarian, planned government is the better system.

The debate certainly isn’t over, and Sirico seems to be responding to the last few decades of the dialogue within the Roman Catholic church. Of particular concern is how the terms of the debate stack the deck in favor of the planned economy, instead of the free one. Shouldn’t we plan to give to the poor, instead of rely on individual choice to do so? Lost in that assumption is the fact that liberty is curtailed too much, when a whole society redistributes personal wealth. Lost is the sad fact that the poor are not helped mainly by cash dumped into their account, but by private and local charity knowing them personally, and custom tailoring help to that, in love.

If you don’t know the Acton Institute, they are a good resource at the intersection of theology and politics.

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