Capitalism

James Pinkerton’s essay, “Capitalism’s Moral Center Is Freedom” (Column Right, Dec. 16), prompts two responses. First, he misrepresents Max Weber’s argument. Weber never argued, as Pinkerton asserts, that there is something “particularly ‘Protestant’ about capitalism.” Weber was concerned with fleshing out the combination of factors that led to the emergence of modern rational capitalism. The central question was why capitalism emerged at this specific historical juncture.

Second, he is correct to argue that free markets do not mean political freedom. But it is a fallacy to suggest capitalism ought to be (or was) governed by some moral order. Much to his disbelief, capitalism is a competitive Darwinian struggle to survive. By its very nature, capitalism cannot foster human welfare or political freedom or human rights; it is a highly dynamic system that will lead to innovation through the competitive struggle to make a profit. To suggest that capitalism ought to do otherwise is at the very least to desire another form of social organization. For as Weber did argue, “In a wholly capitalistic order of society, an individual capitalistic enterprise that did not take advantage of its opportunity for profit-making would be doomed to extinction.”

GARY HYTREK

Los Angeles