Jay Haynes

Capital is God, God is Capital

Both the right and the left agree on one thing almost without question: democracy is good and we want to spread it throughout the world. So it is logical to ask, what makes a democracy work?

It might be religion, faith, family values, individual liberty, the rule of law, etc. But Fareed Zakaria points out in his insightful new book, The Future of Freedom, that there is a simple answer, given the historical evidence:

"The simplest explanation for a new democracy's political success is its economic success - or, to be more specific, high per capita national income." And later, "No one factor tells the whole story, but given the number of countries being examined, on different continents, with vastly different cultures, and at different historical phases, it is remarkable that one simple explanation -- per capita GDP -- can explain so much."

In other words: have faith in capital!

In a very real sense, capital is universal and transcendent. It has grown and spread across an enormously diverse set cultures and countries. We can have faith in capital to secure democracy because the historical evidence is overwhelming. To ignore history is to jeaopordize our future.

But the nature of the faith we have in capital is extremely important. And this is the basis for Moral Capital: it is a faith based on reason and historical evidence not revelation. Moral Capital will explore the battle between reason and revelation in more detail because there is evidence that, unfortunately, it is becoming the defining battle once again.

Hello World

This is the start of Moral Capital. Moral Capital is a set of ideas designed to improve the world economically and individuals financially. It is a set of ideas with both political and personal implications.

But Moral Capital is more than just a set of ideas. It is also an attempt to understand why the world is the way it is. It is a set of ideas generated from the lessons of history. The world can produce remarkably beautiful things that create awe inspiring happiness. But the world has also experienced unimaginable horror, irreversible devastation and profound hopelessness. Understanding how to create the beautiful things and how to avoid the horrors is central to the mission of Moral Capital.

But Moral Capital is also more than just an attempt to understand the world. It is a system to change it. It is philosophizing with the modern hammer: capital. And the evidence that Moral Capital works is the history of the world as we know it today.

It is always better to historicize with reason than to speculate with faith.

The goal of Moral Capital is very American: human happiness. Of course, as Americans, we only have the right to pursue happiness, not necessarily to achieve it. But as humans, we naturally rejoice when we see happiness and enthusiasm around us.

Happiness and enthusiasm are the most contagious things on the planet.

Hopefully, Moral Capital will encourage others to think, reflect and ultimately act on history's lessons in order to create a world full of human happiness.