We tend to see Adam Smith as the first capitalist, and the United States as the home to democratic capitalism. But it seems that Smith was generally optimistic that a society grounded on the free pursuit of individual self-interest will lead to positive outcomes, while the American founders, particularly James Madison, seem wary that freedom will lead to the creation of competing factions. Where did Smith and the Founders agree on self-interest, and where did they disagree? And how did Tocqueville believe that Americans mitigated some of the potential problems of a society based purely on self-interest? Is the pursuit of self-interested, at least in some way, compatible with a biblical worldview?
We tend to see Adam Smith as the first capitalist, and the United States as the home to…
We tend to see Adam Smith as the first capitalist, and the United States as the home to democratic capitalism. But it seems that Smith was generally optimistic that a society...
