Self-Interest

Adam Smith, who wrote the seminal work of modern economics and capitalism, “The Wealth Of Nations,” said that enlightened self-interest is the driving force for prosperity.  What is often forgotten is that he was a Calvinist minister.  Enlightened meant for Smith a moral framework to include the Ten Commandments, the Bible, and an empathy and love of neighbor.  But as religion and belief in God got dumped or diminished in modern times, all that remained is “self-interest” as in me and mine, and “more is better.”  Empathy for neighbor is out the window in economics, as is the commandments and the Bible with all its Wisdom sayings.  When we dump religion all together, there is a price to be paid.  We don’t hold onto any moral structure that connects us to one another in a healthy way.  Historically, bad things begin to happen and societies get trashed to build a new world in which a lot of people get murdered.