Virtue and Capitalism

I was touched by Jake Smith’s lamentation (“The Rich Can’t Have All the Money,” Editorial Page, March 24). I am sad that a man I would value as a member of my community cannot afford to live in my neighborhood. But Smith should not be surprised at the support from conservatives like George Will for his plight. It is conservative doctrine that upholds the values of community and tradition. It is liberal doctrine that takes his 20 years of professional dedication and reduces it to a one-paragraph job description in a union contract.

I hope that when I get on a bus it is driven by a man like you, Mr. Smith; but it is more likely to be driven by a sullen young man with no understanding for the mechanical integrity of the bus, no commitment to a professional tradition that honors his past and promises his future, and knows only that he doesn’t want to be doing it five years from now. Under the liberal rules by which Smith’s union “protects” him, he has the same value to the merger and acquisitions firms on Wall Street as does that sullen young man.

We need to rediscover an old-fashioned definition of virtue as it applies to capitalism. Call it noblesse oblige . Call it a pragmatic realization that the professional commitment of a man like Smith is far out of proportion to his remuneration. The takeover artists and junk-bond hucksters owe it to our country to realize that its citizens are their community too. But decency can’t be written into law.

The problem, Mr. Smith, is not yours, and it is not in conservatism; it is in the way that modern capitalists define virtue (and the limits of their responsibility) as adherence to a list of rules highlighted in their lawbooks rather than as kindness, love, charity and places in their hearts.

TOM BLAIR

San Pedro