Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

On morality and our faltering economy

OpinionBenjamin Cole  |  September 17, 2008

By Benjamin Cole

America faced an unprecedented challenge requiring military intervention halfway around the globe. Russia was recalcitrant in the face of international diplomatic pressure, and rogue South American dictators scoffed at democratic reforms. Africa suffered the stresses of modernization. The Middle East was unstable; Israel dealt with anti-Jewish regimes; and America faced a series of unanticipated economic challenges.

Sound familiar? Not only does it describe the current year, but one more than 40 years ago. It was 1962, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy was president. He listed the world’s woes in a speech during spring commencement at Yale University.

In that speech, Kennedy summoned every ounce of his soaring rhetorical skill to address challenges to the American economy — wasteful spending, budget deficits and national debt, the falling value of the American dollar and rising anxieties about international confidence in the American markets.

Flash forward 46 years. Today, the American economy is tottering. Republicans know it. Democrats know it. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department know it. And most certainly, the American people know it. At the moment, however, it seems that nobody is to blame — not the government that turned a blind eye to predatory lending; not usurers who eschewed every vestige of moral responsibility; not the covetous, debt-laden suburbanites who had to keep up with the Joneses down the street.

Out on the presidential stump, Barack Obama and John McCain point fingers in every direction. If it’s not legislators who have failed to provide congressional oversight, then it’s an administration that has failed to manage the economy. Everywhere you look, the current economic crisis is a reason to reject the other guy and empower whoever has the microphone for the moment.

I spent the greater part of last weekend trying to digest Obama and McCain’s economic proposals. Both candidates want to fix the mortgage meltdown by helping sub-prime borrowers keep homes they couldn’t afford in the first place. Both have endless acronyms — the HOME plan for McCain, and the HOME score for Obama, to name two — that offer grand and hopeful ideas without much in the way of nuts-and-bolts proposals.

As I sorted through the presidential rivals’ economic plans, it seemed to me that the problems America faces are much more substantive and subtle than a few unrestrained executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The wrong questions are being asked; therefore, the wrong solutions are being offered.

Why must lowering taxes always be a plank in a winning political platform, for instance? Since the Great Depression, Americans have steadily increased the expectations they have from the federal government. Since the 1980s, however, Americans have grown accustomed to shouldering less and less of the burden to pay for the government programs they demand.

Take the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for example. Both McCain and Obama have called for more regulations and stricter governmental oversight. Missing from their solutions is the fine print. More regulations mean more regulators. More regulators mean more federal jobs. More federal jobs mean a larger federal budget. A larger federal budget means a need for more tax revenue.

Which leads me to the real reason I’ve been thinking about the moral and political foundation of the economic questions that America now faces.

In his 2005 “Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics,” Harvard professor Michael Sandel explores the digression of American political concern from the noble pursuit of an economy of citizenship — where the goal of democracy was the formation of self-governing citizens — to the lesser end of economic growth at any cost. Rather than making citizens who are capable of working diligently and providing generously for the common good, America became a nation of nursing babes unable to wean themselves from Uncle Sam’s bosom.

Americans, according to Sandel, are less able to govern themselves than they were a century ago. And a people incapable of self-government should be careful about blaming the federal government for failing to balance its own budget or audit its own expenditures. When “we the people” have gotten ourselves into an economic freefall, “we the people” should bear the burden of getting us out.

Sandel’s book directed me to Kennedy’s 1962 commencement address. Quite profoundly, he spoke to the very problems that Americans now face: an expanding federal government, a deepening federal debt and a growing federal deficit. Those economic dilemmas and the economic stresses they created were — for Kennedy — too important to be reduced to campaign slogans or political clichés. They demanded discipline, nuance and complex thinking.

They required moral reasoning — the kind that preachers and philosophers and politicians had undertaken at the nation’s founding. Looking across the Pacific to escalating military conflict in Indochina, looking at stresses of outdated domestic policies and looking at the Yale Class of 1962, Kennedy called the next generation of America’s leaders to a higher level of political discourse. He urged them to face the challenges with courage and calm.

“You are part of the world and you must participate in these days of our years in the solution of the problems that pour upon us, requiring the most sophisticated and technical judgment; and as we work in consonance to meet the authentic problems of our times, we will generate a vision and an energy which will demonstrate anew to the world the superior vitality and strength of the free society,” Kennedy told them.

Forty-six years later, it remains to be seen if Americans will find the solutions to our problems through the diligent work of moral and political reflection, or if we will simply watch the dog-and-pony show of presidential campaigns without demanding something more realistic than panacean economic proposals or partisan blame-shifting for today’s fiscal ills.

The economic crisis is not a new problem. It’s not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem. It’s not a rich problem or a poor problem. The distractions and divisions that threaten the nation’s resolve to tighten our own economic belts, to roll up our own economic sleeves and to do the tough work of seeing our country through another dark season of fiscal strain must be rejected. The partisan potshots that discourage collaborative solutions must cease.

Whether or not a leader will arise to summon the resolve of a nation to do something other than provide knee-jerk reactions to problems on Wall Street and Capitol Hill remains to be seen. For now, we watch as the rains of economic woe fall upon the just and the unjust.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Commentaries
More by
Benjamin Cole
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • Yes, Tim Scott is a Black man, but he’s still promoting Christian nationalism

      Opinion

    • New documentary series shows how churches that close can keep ministry open

      News

    • Here’s why Ron DeSantis has gone to war with Disney

      Opinion

    • Remembering Bob Seymour: Being wise as serpents and harmless as doves

      Opinion


    Curated

    • US Slavic Churches Booming with Ukrainian War Refugees

      US Slavic Churches Booming with Ukrainian War Refugees

    • What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?

      What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?

    • Russia acknowledges Vatican peace initiative, says no steps yet for a mission to Moscow

      Russia acknowledges Vatican peace initiative, says no steps yet for a mission to Moscow

    • What we need to understand is that fascism is intersectional and erotic — ’thy rod is thy gun,’ with a hip-thrust

      What we need to understand is that fascism is intersectional and erotic — ’thy rod is thy gun,’ with a hip-thrust

    Read Next:

    Evangelical worldview ministries seek to promote ‘proper’ thoughts, beliefs and actions

    NewsSteve Rabey

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • How the Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to put faith into action

      OpinionDarryl Gray

    • Believe me: The struggle of Black pain

      OpinionZachary Barber

    • They’ll know we are Christians by our what?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • U.S. Department of Education issues guidance on religious expression in schools

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa

      OpinionJack Levison

    • Ten Commandments bill dies in Texas Legislature

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • The generational pain and hope of the Southern Baptist witch trials

      OpinionWill Raybon

    • Leader of Assemblies of God student group at Baylor arrested on child sexual abuse charges

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • BJC and Interfaith Alliance applaud first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Why demographic shifts haven’t yet swamped the Republican Party

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Tina Turner kept the divine flame burning

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Remembering Bob Seymour: Being wise as serpents and harmless as doves

      OpinionCurtis Freeman

    • Here’s why Ron DeSantis has gone to war with Disney

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • New documentary series shows how churches that close can keep ministry open

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Yes, Tim Scott is a Black man, but he’s still promoting Christian nationalism

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Southwestern Seminary trustees called to special meeting next Tuesday

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Transitions for the week of 5-26-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • 8-year-old’s death in CBP custody highlights Biden’s ‘system of death,’ immigration advocates say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Why ‘affirming’ churches need to speak up

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Evangelical worldview ministries seek to promote ‘proper’ thoughts, beliefs and actions

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Five things Southern Baptists should do now to address clergy sex abuse

      OpinionChrista Brown and David Clohessy

    • Why we must be cautious about understanding what’s going on at Southwestern Seminary

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Here’s another angle to corporate DEI work: Increased support for ‘faith friendly’ workplaces

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • On graduation and the priesthood of all believers

      OpinionVal Fisk

    • Here’s how to force SBC entities to be accountable to people in the pew about their finances

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • U.S. Department of Education issues guidance on religious expression in schools

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ten Commandments bill dies in Texas Legislature

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Leader of Assemblies of God student group at Baylor arrested on child sexual abuse charges

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • BJC and Interfaith Alliance applaud first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • New documentary series shows how churches that close can keep ministry open

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Southwestern Seminary trustees called to special meeting next Tuesday

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Transitions for the week of 5-26-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • 8-year-old’s death in CBP custody highlights Biden’s ‘system of death,’ immigration advocates say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Evangelical worldview ministries seek to promote ‘proper’ thoughts, beliefs and actions

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Here’s another angle to corporate DEI work: Increased support for ‘faith friendly’ workplaces

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Amid Sudan war and elsewhere, water scarcity threatens lives

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Gap widens on American confidence in vaccines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Seven graphs that show the state of American religious attendance today

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Tim Keller was a really nice guy, but that wasn’t enough for everyone

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In Mozambique, informal economies are springing up around Pentecostal pilgrimages

      NewsDegracias Kalimo

    • Immigration advocates continue to rip Biden administration for betrayal of campaign promises 

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Missouri bill to increase statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims dies in Senate

      NewsMallory Challis

    • ‘Every single pastor at the conference should forbid their wives from attending her session’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Colorado Springs elects a Nigerian immigrant — and political Independent — as mayor

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • On its 60th anniversary, ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ still speaks

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Alliance focuses spring meeting on setting modern-day captives free

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • SBC presidential candidate describes his church as ‘the strictest of the strict complementarians’

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Northern Seminary students file complaint with accreditation board

      NewsElizabeth Souder

    • Rick Warren outlines five reasons Saddleback will challenge its expulsion from SBC

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How the Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to put faith into action

      OpinionDarryl Gray

    • Believe me: The struggle of Black pain

      OpinionZachary Barber

    • They’ll know we are Christians by our what?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa

      OpinionJack Levison

    • The generational pain and hope of the Southern Baptist witch trials

      OpinionWill Raybon

    • Why demographic shifts haven’t yet swamped the Republican Party

      OpinionRobert P. Jones

    • Tina Turner kept the divine flame burning

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Remembering Bob Seymour: Being wise as serpents and harmless as doves

      OpinionCurtis Freeman

    • Here’s why Ron DeSantis has gone to war with Disney

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Yes, Tim Scott is a Black man, but he’s still promoting Christian nationalism

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Why ‘affirming’ churches need to speak up

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Five things Southern Baptists should do now to address clergy sex abuse

      OpinionChrista Brown and David Clohessy

    • Why we must be cautious about understanding what’s going on at Southwestern Seminary

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • On graduation and the priesthood of all believers

      OpinionVal Fisk

    • Here’s how to force SBC entities to be accountable to people in the pew about their finances

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • These are some of the best pastors I know

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Worshiping guns, weaponizing God    

      OpinionScott Spreier

    • Of two minds: Iain McGilchrist and the tyranny of left hemisphere religion

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • Faith freedom for all calls for justice and reconciliation

      OpinionSabrina Dent

    • The lion, the witch-hunt and the boardroom: Reflections 30 years after the harrowing of Southern Seminary

      OpinionBrad Bull

    • Is our ever-changing worship music giving us spiritual amnesia?

      OpinionJason Koon

    • Is calling someone a ‘white supremacist’ the same as calling someone the ‘N-word’?

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • An eleventh commandment: Be careful what you wish for

      OpinionDon Polaski

    • In the beginning and the here and now: Genesis’ call to care for creation

      OpinionBrett Younger

    • Ron DeSantis is dead wrong — again

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • US Slavic Churches Booming with Ukrainian War Refugees

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What is ‘ethical AI’ and how can companies achieve it?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Russia acknowledges Vatican peace initiative, says no steps yet for a mission to Moscow

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What we need to understand is that fascism is intersectional and erotic — ’thy rod is thy gun,’ with a hip-thrust

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Our Beloved Ones Don’t Become Angels When They Die

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Turkey’s Christian Sites: Visiting The Seven Churches From The Book Of Revelation

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Firewalkers in Greece honor Saint Constantine in mystery-shrouded, centuries-old rituals

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In fight against ‘tyranny,’ Michigan board declares itself ‘constitutional county’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Montana acts to protect Native American priority in adopting Native children

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A new documentary takes a deep dive into the ancient and modern practice of Sabbath

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Priest killed in Mexico; 9th slain in country in past 4 years

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Fewer Christians Know Families Who Foster or Adopt

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Wikipedia disciplines editors in Holocaust distortion dispute but sidesteps debate over Polish complicity

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Religious broadcasters seek to reverse California law aimed at quelling online hate speech

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Second Christian Conscientious Objector Given Jail Sentence In Ukraine

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • UK report finds Britons’ lack of faith knowledge deeply disturbing

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • When faith says to help migrants – and the law says don’t

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • 3 Palestinian militants killed in Israeli West Bank raid; US slams latest settlement expansion

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • As enrollment dropped, more Hebrew schools opened in San Francisco

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Religious broadcasters seek to reverse California law aimed at quelling online hate speech

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Vatican recalls stamp celebrating Portugal’s colonial empire after complaints

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Tim Keller, influential author and pastor, receiving hospice care at home

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Hell, yes: younger Britons more likely to believe in damnation, study finds

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Auschwitz museum begins emotional work of conserving 8,000 shoes of murdered children

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Kashmiri Muslims Slam Social Media Influencers For Violating Faith And Sentiments

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS