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Scroog·e Economics?
Perh~ps
less familiar to us are the great examples of
giving in the church two and three centuries beyond the
New Testament period. In this case, an enemy of early
Christians, Julian the Apostate, tried unsuccessfully to
reproduce the early Christian approach to charity in his
pagan state church. He writes to Arsacius,
"These
Galileans feed not only their own poor but ours; our
poor lack our care.
"
Volunteerism, it turns out, would become a
cornerstone of the American incentive system. In 1835,
Alexis de Tocqueville, a French politician and
philosopher, wrote about his extended visit to America:
The health of a democratic society may be
measured by the quality of services. The
Americans are a peculiar people. If, in a local
community, a citizen becomes aware ofa human
need which is not being met, he, thereupon,
discusses the situation with his neighbors. The
committee, thereupon, begins to act on behalfof
the need
. . .
without a single reference to a
bureaucracy or to any official agency.
If we are in favor of helping the poor, how shall we
ignore the morality of an economic system which has
the best track record of allowing us to assistthe poor?
Capitalism also credibly allows the poor to help
themselves in the long run.
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