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Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico by Alex Montero 
This October, Acton Institute president Father Robert Sirico presided at the Institute's premier student program, the "Toward a Free and Virtuous Society" conference. This particular conference was the first held by the Institute entirely in Spanish. In these meetings with religious leaders (priests, pastors, theologians, seminarians), Father Sirico discussed the principles that should guide a Christian society. Two primary subjects of discussion were the church’s social doctrine and economic science, which, when brought face to face, turn out to be amazingly compatible and sympathetic. And this is no accident, Father Sirico insists, for economic theory has its roots in the Spanish Scholastic School, represented by Francisco Suárez, Domingo de Soto, and others, and, further, it is possible to trace its influence on the Austrian school of economics. With these seminars on economics and ethics, the Acton Institute puts before us a challenge for Latin American Christians: How do we achieve a new, just society that can overcome poverty–-a task that is possible only in freedom? For a believer, his brother’s poverty is not acceptable, and the social-economic systems that generate this poverty are not acceptable, either, because their regulatory standards, controls, and interference paralyze the production of individuals, who should be the real players in their own development. The challenge to Latin American Christians presents itself in examining the true causes promoting The Wealth of Nations, as Adam Smith did in his landmark work. Our challenge is a matter of making possible the production of wealth that is accessible to all. To achieve this, the free-market system shows itself to be the most appropriate. We have the historical example of the United States, a nation built by the Founding Fathers on the principles of equality and freedom, which have led that country to reach impressive levels of prosperity. That is the first case, because history has also shown us that nations that have applied the same principles have raised the standards of living for their citizens. The free-market system has proven to be efficient for generating wealth. It is not enough to eradicate all of the problems that exist in society, but it is enough to create economic conditions that allow for a dignified life for everyone. When we compare the standard of living of two hundred years ago, when nearly the entire population was poor, with the current standard of living, we see how, through the free market, invention and production have been stimulated such that, increasingly, more people receive what is necessary to live a more dignified life. And the free market has done so by stimulating the virtues of work, honesty, savings, and service, because it is only by offering good service to others that one can experience entrepreneurial success in a free-market economy. An idea guides these Acton Institute seminars: Freedom and virtue cannot be opposites; rather, they are strongly interrelated. Freedom is the context that is necessary for any virtue. True virtue arises solely in a free society. After the moral and economic bankruptcy that collectivism has produced in many nations, it is time to bet on freedom, which enables and promotes the dignity of the human being. Alex Montero, advisor for the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, is a professor of psychology at the Universidad Autónoma de Centro América and the Universidad Monterrey, among others. He is pursuing a masters degree in theology from the Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana and has done post-graduate work in philosophy, linguistics and other disciplines. QUESTIONS? |
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