Our Golden Goose

Fables most often use anthropomorphic plants, animals, legendary creatures and subjects of nature to illuminate moral truths.  The Golden Goose is a fable existing in various tellings from Aesop circa 600BC to Townsend in 1867.  Whether by foolishness or greed, as we perhaps all remember, the golden egg laying goose is killed in the end, illustrating in Samual Croxall’s 1722 translation that ‘Much wants more, and loses all.’ 

In the Bible, Jesus used parables to teach, seemingly simple stories about human experience that often represented internal analogies whereby, according to Gustave Lisco in his 1840 The Parables of Jesus, “nature became a witness for the spiritual world.”  Indeed, while Christians draw profound wisdom from their Good Book, it is often the sustained search for improvement, application of biblical principles and ensuing progress that are the more visible and valuable realizations for mankind. 

We write today about our Golden Goose, our wealth creating possession, what we call the Earthly Trinity and the Light and Envy of the World.  With the creation of the United States of America, three philosophical and practical constructs came into existence, at the same time, for the first time in history:  political, economic and religious freedom.  The convergence of Christianity with a Constitutional Democratic Republic and Free Market Capitalism formed the foundational furnace that fueled the spark of human advance unprecedented and unimagined in human history.

The graph charts six metrics as a proxy for global well being:  Poverty, Education, Literacy, Democracy, Vaccinations and Child Mortality.  Signifiant other measures would be per capital GPD and philanthropy.

Yes we recognize the Earthly Trinity, but from where did it arise?  From Biblical principles.  For sure, the life of Christ, his teachings and exhortation to evangelism are central in the Bible’s New Testament.  And what of a Constitutional Democratic Republic?  We see that God established his Law with the Ten Commandments.  He decreed individual liberty and equality.  And traditions of democracy and republican government were tenants of Gaelic Christian faith from the first century.  Its’ little noted that the Consent of the Governed ethic entered written history with Augustine’s 603AD letter to Pope Gregory, exasperated at the Gaelic Abbott Dinoot’s refusal to conform to Roman rites without the ‘consent of his people.’  Or that the principle was formalized by Duns Scotus in 1290 in his exposition on social contracts referencing the ancient Clan family practices.  Leaders elected from among a peer group of equals was a Gaelic heritage from the earliest times, conformed to Druidic and Christian customs and informed Scottish Presbyterianism, the Scottish Enlightenment and the education, experience and practice of our Founding Fathers.  It may be seen that the Protestant Reformation freed Man from Rule of the Church and the republican theology of the Scottish Enlightenment freed Man from the Rule of Kings.  Indeed, ‘No Bishop, No King’ was a rallying cry of first of the Scottish Covenanter movement, and when thousands were exiled to the Colonial shores, a call to Political and Religious Independence.

And what about Economic Freedom?  The year 1776 not only saw America declare independence from Britain, but also the publishing of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.  After the King James Bible probably the most influential book in human history, Wealth of Nations explained how politically free people acting in their own economic self-interest with like minded others in a free market created an expansion of productivity benefitting all members of society.   Of course, Adam Smith was the Professor of Moral Philosophy that invented Political Economy, a Scottish Presbyterian son of the Scottish Enlightenment.  Smith’s free markets represented a paradigm shift from the command structure of mercantilism then dominant in industrially developing nations.  (As an aside, since King James was a Scotsman, along with Adam Smith the countrymen were the two most influential authors in human history.)

So, at one time, in one place, Christianity, Constitutional Republican government and free market Capitalism came together and the rest, as they say is history.  These three foundational pillars, this Earthly Trinity formed a supportive ecosystem for the creation of wealth.  Let us consider that this convergence occurred at no other prior time or place in history, so not only was the benefit to mankind unprecedented, the convergence was and remains also, unique.  

In tracing the Biblical origins of each of the three we may recall that Jesus taught parables that “nature might become the witness of the spiritual world.”  Indeed, we find Truths of the Christian faith made manifest in the unique institutions of the United States of America for the betterment of all mankind.  And this is why this Earthly Trinity, the political, economic and religious freedom established with the creation America is the Light and Envy of the World.  For 250 years people around the globe have looked to the United States as the beacon of freedom, opportunity and charity not available anywhere else in the world

Aside from quality of life, America has defended the right to life and freedom, turning back the ‘isms’ of the First World War and destroying the Nazis and Imperial Japanese in the Second.  These are contributions to the world that relied upon our foundational freedoms that are quickly being forgotten at home and abroad.  What would be the composition and character of the Community of Nations in a world without the historical presence, participation and provision of America?

The vitally important thing to understand about freedom is that it applies to both the freedom to create, and freedom to keep and direct.  Or put another way, limits on freedom hobble wealth creation, limit how much one can keep and how the remnant can be deployed.  We quickly see that freedom is vital for creation and preservation of wealth

Cherished freedoms are being destroyed today – by people who do not understand – they may define those who ‘have much, want more and risk losing all.’

And let’s consider, the immediate value assigned to the Golden Goose is that it creates wealth; yet the perhaps more profound value of the Golden Goose lies in the fact that it is utterly unique – irreplaceable for its purpose.  Wretchard, writing at Belmont Club December 6, 2020 observed, “The Design Margin which for so long seemed adequate against all contingencies has evaporated in a single year.”  

The fables end with the killing of the Golden Goose, and the moral explication of foolish greed.  But what of the future days of the foolishly greedy people in the stories?  Maybe it’s again time for ‘nature to become a witness to the spiritual world.’

Scotus

George Tyler Townsend, Aesops’s Fables, 1867

The World as 100 People Over the Last Two Centuries, Our World in Data, 2020

Richard Fernandez, The Search for the Lost World, Belmont Club, December 6, 2020

photo credit:  The Boy Discovering the Golden Eggs, John Young English, 1796, The National Galleries of Scotland,