Due to the pandemic our country has seen an unemployment rate that is profoundly outside the realm of “normal.” While employment is verifiably picking back up, and the statistics for Lowndes county reflect that, there is a conversation rumbling that is just beginning.

That conversation isn’t specifically just about capitalism and socialism, but it does begin there.

Let’s briefly cover that, then get into the value of work itself.

Quickly defined, “Capitalism is based on individual initiative and favors market mechanisms over government intervention, while socialism is based on government planning and limitations on private control of resources.”[1]

If I may use a terrifically broad brush to point out one major difference, many socialists claim that capitalism encourages greed and the selfish mishandling of resources. But that is why capitalism must be built upon a foundation of a Judeo-Christian ethic and the rule of law.

Capitalism only works in a society governed by the rule of law because that governing power serves to check the egos and appetites of humanity.

Greed isn’t a result of capitalism but of human nature; it is universal and agnostic to governmental system.

And despite what socialists say, the potential for heinous greed exists within us all, even those in power in socialistic governments. Who’s to say they are immune?

That is why we must land on a system of economics that takes into account that no system alleviates evil. Both are forced to deal with it in broad daylight, so they each must choose their weapons wisely.

On the one hand, socialism carries a big stick, forcing humans to back down, be happy with less. It takes from the rich and gives to the poor, effectively removing fundamental freedoms and the drive toward accomplishments.

On the other, capitalism gives each person freedom, freedom which encourages creativity, taking risks, and accomplishments, but a freedom which is constrained by both free-market competition and the rule of an ethical standard.

Capitalism enlists both law and competition to restrain freedom from careening over the cliff; socialism removes whole areas of freedom altogether.

In a world without freedom, there is no happiness, creativity, or motivation. But in a world without work, there is no purpose or meaning.

What we have in our culture now is a hybrid of both of these systems, and the mindsets of both are working their way into our friendships and businesses.

And this conversation is longer than 500 of these columns combined.

But as usual, there is a tid-bit we can take-away, and that is this: there is no perfection on this earth, no perfect governmental system or regime. There is evil in all of us. And that is why all of life must be lived in submission to a higher power, to the rule of law.

If we all submit to that, then we can truly live by the freedoms we have and proudly build something worth having.

Without work, there is no purpose.

Without purpose, there is no joy.

We need our work as much as our work needs us—maybe more so.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/082415/pros-and-cons-capitalist-vs-socialist-economies.asp