Michael Novak on "The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism" | Michael Novak | Big Think

Michael Novak on "The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism"

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Professor Novak discusses his most famous book.

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Michael Novak:

Theologian, author, and former U.S. ambassador, Michael Novak currently holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in religion and public policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., where he is director of social and political studies. Novak received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion in 1994, and delivered the Templeton address in Westminster Abbey. He has also received the Boyer Award in 1999; with Milton Friedman and Vaclav Klaus, the International Prize by the Institution for World Capitalism; the Anthony Fisher Prize for The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, presented by Margaret Thatcher; the Weber Award for contributions to Catholic social thought in Essen, Germany; the Cézanne Medal from the city of Provence, and the Catholic Culture Medal of Bassano del Grappa in Italy; the highest civilian award from the Slovak Republic in 1996; and in 2000 the Masaryk Medal, presented by Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic.

Novak was appointed and served as Ambassador of the U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva from 1981–1982; head of the U.S. Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the monitor of the Helsinki Accords) in 1986; with Senate approval, member of the Board for International Broadcasting in 1984; member of the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice in 1985. He has also served the United States during both Democratic and Republican administrations.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Novak: Oh, I’ve learned an awful lot. You know, I, I’m not an economist. I’m not a political scientist. I’m a theologian and a philosopher but I do love America and I did want to understand what’s the inner philosophy, what’s the inner dynamism of the American system, and you couldn’t learn it just from the economist and you couldn’t learn it just from the political scientist and the humanists seemed to spend most of their time doing footnotes on one another instead of trying to understand the whole. It was very little trying to understand, though. If a European or an Asian asked me what is the American idea? What is the Novus Ordo Seclorum that is written on the seal of the United States, the New Order of the Ages? Not very many could help. And so, I, you know, I sat down myself to try to work it out in my own terms. A free society such as I love and would like to see grow hereto is of a creative, dynamic economy, liberating the poor from poverty, my own family among them came here very, very poor a hundred years ago, and a republic which protects human rights and the rule of law and allows for the sovereignty of the citizens who as it were hire and fire their elected leaders, since you need to have leaders to move forward. We call that democracy now, but the old idea for that, I think a better idea for it is a republic. And third, a powerful set of institutions teaching a good character and love for the truth and love for honesty and courage and nobility of soul, and setting up ideals for our young so that they become a disciplined adults who love their own liberty and they’re willing to take the responsibilities necessary to be sure that they don’t chuck all the burdens off to the state. That’s the road to tyranny. It’s when free citizens decide to do things for themselves and have a capacity to organize to get things done. That should generate free societies.

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