Part 1 of a throwback post from February 8, 2014
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see The Wolf of Wall Street about the corrupt stockbroker, Jordan Belfort. Very good, I thought, although not my favorite movie of the year (David O. Russell’s American Hustle wins that honor). It was a bit long, and I think that certain more lurid scenes could probably have been cut. That being said, it was an interesting study in personal ambition and the power of human beings to engage in almost limitless self-corruption (Incidentally, although some may doubt the truth of some of Belfort’s stories, the FBI agent who followed him stated in an interview that, to the extent he could verify things, the stories were not exaggerations). In many respects though, I think director Martin Scorsese got fundamentally wrong why Belfort became corrupt and the nature of his corruption. The film was never really preachy (something Hollywood often cannot help), but the subtext was quite obviously an indictment of capitalism. There was even a reference to the 1%, that is, a nod in the direction of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
I would of course make a couple of points about this. First, of course, any economic system is corruptible, because humans are by nature corrupt. This is obvious and I need not elaborate on this by pointing to historical examples. Secondly, there is nevertheless a possibility for capitalism with virtue (one might say). Certainly the Puritans had a vibrant capitalist culture while maintaining a relatively high level of morality (at least in human terms). The Dutch did as well. Historian Simon Schama has documented this in his book The Embarassment of Riches about the Dutch in the 17th century. In my own city, Grand Rapids, this culture of virtuous capitalism has continued, with the old and wealthy Dutch families using their resources to build up the civic life of the city in some very remarkable ways. One the heirs to the DeVos fortune spoke at Aquinas College’s graduation back in 2010 and gave a talk on business life and Christian vocation that would have warmed Martin Luther’s heart. So, I think what Belfort’s problem and the problem of current economic system is not really capitalism per se, but capitalism without virtue.
So if it’s not capitalism, but capitalism without virtue that’s the problem, why did The Wolf of Wall Street become the way he did and not like a more virtuous capitalist? I would argue that part of the problem with Scorsese’s critique is that it doubles down on the problem that created Belfort in the first place. Scorsese somehow thinks there needs to be more state-control. Indeed, over the previous 100 years or so, we have developed the notion that the state is really the center of human life. This is a mistake made not only by the Left of the political spectrum, but also by the Right. That being the case, in our current political discourse the state is meant to bear weight that it wasn’t established by God to bear as an Order of Creation. In other words, the assumption is that human flourishing happens if we get politics right. In fact, not just human flourishing happens, but maybe even the Kingdom of God happens – witness the strange messianic projects that both liberal and conservative Presidents have conjured up in recent decades. It’s just the matter of invading one more country and converting it to democracy, or it’s a just matter of inventing one more social program- and “Bam!” the kingdom has come!
To be continued…