The Economic Religion of Michael Novak: Wealth Creation vs. the Gospel, Catholic Universities Teach Condemned Neoliberalism by Mark and Louise Zwick [page 3 of 3]
It is so hard to understand how Michael Novak can recommend such people as models. Perhaps a key to this understanding might be his inspiration by Max Weber. Novak's book, Business as a Calling, was inspired by Weber, who wrote of "Politics as a Vocation." The first major quote in Novak's book is taken from Weber (p. 17): "The earning of money within the modern economic order is the result and expression of virtue and proficiency in a calling…. Now it is unmistakeable in the German, and more clearly in the English "calling," a religious conception, that of a task set by God…." How strange that Novak would to go Weber for his definition of vocation instead of addressing his Catholic roots. Like Smith, Weber saw a "calling" in terms of wealth creation. Sociologist Weber did not spend much time answering critics of his economics, critics who saw that wealth creation without regard for the workers would often be tainted by greed. Novak quotes his words from The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, where he says, "The assertion that capitalism promotes greed" belongs in the kindergarten of sociological opinions." Apparently Novak does not take critics seriously either In his work The Wise Man and the Politician Weber presents his famous distinction between the ethic of conscience and the ethic of responsibility. According to Weber, the ethic of conscience is that of the heroes, the prophets, the saints who orient their conduct to ethical norms which go beyond the call of duty. The ethic of responsibility is that of the politician who has the concern of gaining power and keeping it. All means lead to this end-power-making a conquest of it, exercising it, protecting it. It is enough for the politician to take responsibility for his decisions, without paying any attention to the moral standards to which prophets submit themselves. In his discussion of this seeking of power for the mass of men who couldn't possibly be heroes or saints, John Milbank contends that the Machiavellian assumptions of modern political theory and modern economics are intrinsic to the constitution of Weberian sociology (John Milbank, Theology and Social Theory, Blackwell Publishers, 1990.) With Novak's emphasis on Weber, one can only surmise that he has adopted this dualism, rejecting the call of holiness for every Christian, even those who work in the world. In Weber's schema those who try to live the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 25 in discipleship are not living in the real world-this call is only for the few. Vatican II and Ecclesia in America disagree. Bourgeois Revolution? What the public did not know was that slave wages in maquiladoras (plants in Latin America which belong to the U.S. and other wealthy nations) were the fruit of what Michael Novak calls in Este hemisferio de libertad the "bourgeois revolution" (p. 99) which he did so much to promote and which he claims helps so many and is such a source of virtue. Novak calls his revolution the bourgeois revolution. These are his words. With this bourgeois revolution a new colonialism has emerged as bad as the first. One reason that slavery thrives is the absence of national laws in so many countries to protect them. The laws relating to services have been removed by those who recommended privatization and the protection of liberty for business. Other international institutions created to protect these transnational businesses are controlled by those who have the most wealth. Small countries are no longer able to protect their citizens (Rourke, p. 186). Agent Provocateur The authors were surprised in the early '90's to see on 60 Minutes the exposé of how the maquiladoras were promoted by the U.S. government throughout the '80's. Companies were given tax-free land and the right to operate with impunity throughout Latin America. This meant no help for the local community. U. S. AID promised assistance in blackballing all labor leaders, so there would be no trouble with wages. We heard them exhort companies: "You must come down and take advantage of these cheap wages and tax-free zones." The conditions of low (slave) wages and no-tax zones were tied to any financial aid. We did not know at the time that Michael Novak operated almost like an agent provocateur of this "bourgeois" revolution in Latin America, which resulted in slave wages and the elimination of public services. We had heard that he had traveled and spoken extensively all through the 1980's in Latin America and Eastern Europe, promoting the neoconservative economics which was given such encouragement by the Reagan administration, now adopted by the Clinton administration. We didn't know much detail about his role in convincing these governments to adopt what is now known as neoliberalism until we read Este hemisferio de libertad. In this book, Novak himself describes the process. On page 15 he emphasizes the countless trips he made to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama and Mexico-how many conferences he gave, the interminable and animated discussions in which he participated and the articles he published in order to make his philosophical and theological case for the economics of wealth creation. Unfortunately, the wealth creation he learned from Adam Smith and David Hume has benefitted the few and impoverished the majority in Latin America, as it has done in other countries where it has been implemented. Novak rejoices in this 1994 Spanish-language edition of his book, revised for a Catholic audience, that he had begun to achieve his goal, that "the economic systems of Latin America had reoriented toward new and creative horizons" (p. 7). They were neoliberal horizons. One of his first wonderful examples is Chile, during the reign of Pinochet. Neoconservatism Imposed General Pinochet was unable to impose without the use of force the neoliberal economics Novak so celebrated having arrived in Chile. There was much controversy surrounding his following the advice of the "Chicago boys," young Chilean students of Milton Friedman who had attended the University of Chicago, turning the whole Chilean economy to this model. Many (even thousands) of those who opposed the plan presented by Friedman in the name of liberty, or were even suspected of opposition, suddenly "disappeared." This, in the name of liberty! Native American groups in Chile like the Mapuche continue to battle the takeover and destruction of their ancestral lands by transnational corporations, e.g., electric utilities, which with privatization replaced the government. The government was hard on the Mapuche; the corporations, even worse. Oil companies Contribute to Novak's Salary One has to begin by realizing that a sizeable portion of Novak's salary at the American Enterprise Institute is paid by oil companies and foundations and companies opposed to environmental controls. In this light his insistence on the "protection and nurturing of personal economic activity" takes on a different hue. In this light one can see more readily why Novak does not voice objection to speculators who make millions or billions when whole national economies melt down, precisely through this speculation (See Mary Lavelle's article in the Houston Catholic Worker, May-June, 1998). Miserable History Novak contends that the Catholic Church has missed the boat for 2,000 years, that it has neglected to develop a theology of wealth creation. It has refused in all these years since Christ died and rose to recognize that business itself is a "moral virtue," perhaps greater than any other. In fact, Novak writes that there was only misery in the world until 1800 when the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment figures Adam Smith and David Hume began to be implemented: "In 1800…almost everyone lived in poverty, suffered precarious health, was illiterate, and lived under tyranny. The average life expectancy was around eighteen years. In order to move from one city to another, the methods of transportation were very rough (as they had been in the time of Christ)…It was difficult to obtain glasses and, almost universally, teeth were in bad condition and dental care was almost unknown" (Este hemisferio, p. 105). Still Miserable Novak's description of the awfulness of life before 1800 fits almost exactly as a description of life in Central America today after his economic ideas have been implemented. The immigrant guests who come to Casa Juan Diego have terrible teeth; they often have no glasses and need them very much. They often have not had treatment for serious health problems. We are grateful to have volunteer dentists, doctors and eye doctors to assist them with these problems. Trojan Horse of Neoconservatism/Neoliberalism The Novak revolution has moved to the universities. Many faculty members, even in Catholic universities, are neocons, teaching economics condemned in Ecclesia in America. This is a factor missed by proponents of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Ex Corde Ecclesiae, a Vatican document to help Catholic universities discover and implement their Catholicity, has not been well received by presidents of Catholic universities. Ex Corde Ecclesiae calls upon Catholic universities to collaborate with the local bishop, especially in the area of Catholic theology. This has been a point of discontent with presidents of major Catholic universities. Their universities, like so many other American universities have adopted the values of our culture that emphasize political correctness, leaving little space for commitment to the Gospels or Catholic teaching. However, the greatest problem with Catholic universities has not been addressed. Few Catholics have ventured to criticize the dominance of neoconservative/neoliberal eco-nomics in Catholic universities. If economics that follows a pattern of rejecting Catholic social teaching to the detriment of the poor is the dominant theory of economics in our major Catholic universities (and it is), then we have a problem much more grave than that of the bishop-theologian conflict. This is the Trojan horse sneaking into the Catholic academic world, corrupting the innocence of our young Catholic intellectuals. The program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston was not such an unusual program. Many other Catholic universities, including the most famous, invite those indicted as harming so many poor to speak as experts. Conclusion The neoconservatives/neo-liberals present a utopian vision of the possibilities of their economics. Those who have benefitted from them would perhaps prefer not to notice the millions of suffering people in poor countries as a result of these policies. They may take Michael Novak as a guide and try to develop a new ethics, a new theology which no longer addresses questions like justice for workers, preferring to hide under the guise of problems of subcontractors. Those who have perhaps been misled into believing that neoconservative economics is the full sum of John Paul II's teachings will find in Ecclesia in America, the Holy Father's report on the Synod of America which condemned these economics, a new breath of hope for all of America. Readers who have not been able to obtain a copy of the document could do so on the web here. Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. 18, No. 3, May-June, 1999.  |
