waste and punishes those who do not. The market’s very efficiencyrnensures that if evil suppHers find wilfing customers forrntheir goods and services, they are not wasting social resources inrnthe process. The job market encourages people to hone theirrnskills and find a usefiil role in the division of labor, while punishingrnlounge lizards and freeloaders.rnGovernment has done its best to hinder the workings of thesernmarket-based proddings towards virtue and goodness, of course.rnAnd to the extent that government intervention has expanded,rnso have the opportunities and payoffs of vice. Inflation punishesrnsavers. Antidiscrimination law allows incompetence tornthrive. Bankruptcy law allows improvident borrowers to stealrnfrom creditors. And all sorts of violations have weakened thernprotection of property owners from those who renege on theirrnpromises. Vice and big government have grown up together.rnThe welfare state reached a critical apex in the mid- to late-rn60’s, when the New Deal dole was suddenly a mass phenomenonrnand lifetime “entitlement,” not merely a temporaryrnhelp. Freedom of association was abolished at the federal level.rnCoinciding with this was the rise of the youth culture (the exaltationrnof immaturity), the breakdown of the family, the publicrnapproval of lasciviousness, and the increase of crime. Withoutrnattempting to untangle complex questions of causation, thererncan be no question these trends are intertwined. The limitsrnon the free market meant a reduction in the natural rewardsrnfor bourgeois socialization and the penalties for antisocialrnbehavior.rnYet even today, a market for goodness and decency still exists,rnand it is a profitable one. Indeed, it is the market that is protectingrnus against the breakdown of social norms reinforced byrngovernment policy. For example, while Congress was debatingrncontiols on the Internet, the market for censorship was busy inventingrnever more sophisticated programs, available at norncharge or minimal charge, that filter out trash from the Webrnwith varying degrees of rigor. Productions of Shakespeare becamernbox office hits while Hollywood films glorifying evil werernlosing money. In a market economy, no capitalist or entiepreneurrncan be sure in his social or economic status, whether hernintends well or not. Far better that evil people be subjected tornthe competitive climate of profit and loss, and be at the mercyrnof bourgeois society, than that they be handed the license thatrncomes with government power.rnForcing the David Kesslers into the private sector will notrnabolish the evil in our midst; nothing can accomplish that goal,rnuntil the end of the world. But doing so would make it possiblernfor society to control and marginalize and redirect their influencernover the rest of us, just as we are struggling to do with therndegenerate postmodern in control of Disney.rnConservative Christians need to reintroduce themselves torneconomic theory. If they do, they will rediscover what was oncerntaken for granted: a society that keeps evil at bay also severelyrnlimits the ability of government to determine how we go aboutrnearning a living, to confiscate the fruits of our labors, and to regulaternthe growth of enterprise at home and abroad. The systemrnof economics that flowers in the absence of an imperious staternis capitalism; it also happens that capitalism—by compellingrneveryone who wants long-run material success to serve the commonrngood—works against the unmitigated spread of evil. crnCONCERNING IMMIGRATIONrna he presence in this volume of California’s Governor Pete Wilson, easilyrnreelected since his essay ‘Citizenship and Immigration’ first appeared inrnChronicles’ November 1993 issue, is only one reason Chronicles’ editors canrnfairly say: you read it here first.”rn—Peter Brimelow, Forbesrna publication ofrnThe Rockford Institutern232 pp., paper, $14.95 List Pricern(plus $2.50 for stripping & handling)rnTo order by credit card, call:rn1-800-397-8160rnOr send check or money order in the amount ofrn$17.45 ($14.95 + $2.50 shipping & handUng) tornChronicles P.O. Box 800, Mt. Morris, IL 61054rnPlease list on payment or mention when ordering:rnSOURCE CODE: SC958, and ITEM CODE: MGRTrnDECEMBER 1997/23rnrnrn