Daniel Klein, professor of economics at George Mason University, asked me to publish this.
First, some context. Dan noted a passage from Adam Smarick in our sister publication Law and Liberty. Smarick, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote: “Who will lead us?» Law and LibertyJune 3, 2024.
Here is the passage:
(Our) founders continually emphasized the importance of virtue in maintaining a republic. George Washington wrote in his farewell address: “Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. » John Adams wrote: “The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue” and “public virtue is the only foundation of republics.” Benjamin Rush argued, “Without virtue there can be no freedom.” » Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. » James Madison wrote: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a fanciful idea. ” And Samuel Adams argued: “He is therefore the truest friend of the liberty of his country, the one who strives most to promote its virtue. »
Dan then commented, “Can we include Adam Smith as an honorary founding father? Dan pointed out that in The theory of moral sentiments he wrote:
What institution of government could tend so much to promote the happiness of humanity as the general predominance of wisdom and virtue? All government is only an imperfect remedy for their deficiency. Any beauty which can therefore belong to the civil government because of its usefulness must belong to it in a much higher degree. On the contrary, what civil policy can be more ruinous and destructive than the vices of men? The disastrous effects of bad government come from nothing, except that it does not sufficiently protect against the misdeeds that human wickedness gives rise to.
I agree with all of this. However, I also want to point out that markets often provide strong incentives for people to be virtuous. I wrote an entire chapter about this in my 2001 book, The Joy of Freedom: An Economist’s Odyssey.
