Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Economist as Official Spokesman for the Culture of Death

The Economist is promoting abortion in the developing countries by claiming that abortion rates are high even in states where it is illegal. Their argument suggests that since abortion cannot be stopped, governments should make the procedure safe and sterile. To be consistent, the same argument can be made in behalf of murder. Although it is illegal, no state in the world has been able to stop the taking of human life. Since murder cannot be prevented, the state should provide criminals with weapons to make it possible to commit this crime more easily. The Economist’s argument would have to be expanded to include all forms of offenses that have not been eliminated.

The Economist is published in the UK and is a willing participant in the marketing of the culture of death. Life is to be discarded if it interferes with economic efficiency. To the extent that we have accepted abortion, our culture endorses this world view. Our culture looks down on those who choose to have large families and find themselves struggling with poverty. It is considered virtuous to be selfish and have smaller families so that more stuff can be consumed. Culturally, we have integrated this economic worldview that subverts everything in our civilization to efficiency and selfishness. Adam Smith in A Theory of Moral Sentiments observes that maximizing wealth cannot produce happiness. Chesterton offers a similar warning in Brave New Family where he notes that he does not trust the support economists and conservative parties offer the family. He recognized early on that the Enlightenment world view cannot be relied on and economists would support the family’s destruction or impoverishment if this leads to greater profitability.

American society shares a legacy with British philosophy and also serves to advance the culture of death. Our new administration’s foreign policy seeks to expand abortion rights in developing countries. We are offering the very same argument as the Economist and are now marketing death to the poor. Our culture argues for less people to improve financial viability but we have made authentic happiness more difficult to achieve. The human heart can never find fulfillment in materialist logic or economic thought.

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