"What a tragedy it would be if capitalism proves to be the engine of its own destruction through its mindless support of those who would tear it down."
"In 1995, American corporations gave out more than $7 billion in charitable contributions, much of it for very worthwhile charities," reports William Simon of the John M. Olin Foundation, "but millions upon millions of dollars also are handed out to politically activist nonprofit organizations. This money," he contends, "is lavished on groups whose actions show them to be contemptuous of democratic capitalism and enthusiastic about the squalor of collectivism."
Simon warns that many American business leaders are "financing the destruction of freedom" with their corporate donations to such groups. Writing in the December issue of Alternatives in Philanthropy, a publication of the Capital Research Center, the former Treasury Secretary charges that many nonprofits are controlled by an elite "hostile to the fundamental principles of our society." This elite, he says, "devours the fruits of capitalism while working to poison the tree that bears them."
There are many reasons for the suicidal generosity of business leaders, one of which is "simply lack of awareness. They are too busy running their businesses to know what is going on in the intellectual world about them," Simon suggests. "Such ignorance," he warns, "can be economically fatal." Others, unversed in the philosophical arguments for free enterprise, accept as legitimate the condemnations of capitalism pronounced by their beneficiaries. "Some may be aware of the merits of our system, but have no inkling of how to fight back," says Simon. "Still others simply may not want to get involved."
Simon expresses contempt for those businessmen who "yield before the assaults of their enemies. They long to be viewed as 'progressive' and 'socially responsible,'" he observes, "no matter to what asinine end this leads them. They are in mortal terror of being branded 'conservative' or 'rapacious' or 'insensitive' or 'exploiters,' and of losing seats at the annual dinners of organizations dedicated to their destruction."
Whether fearful or fawning, such cowering capitalists should be held accountable for their actions. "Business leaders who lack commitment to the virtues of our system are almost as guilty as those whose goal is to destroy that system," Simon insists. "They urge business to keep a 'low profile' and scoff at the free-market ideal as an obsolete notion in this modern age. They have an obsession with being accepted and toasted by the most vocal of their critics." Simon argues that "it is these same business leaders who have provided much of the driving energy of the anti-capitalist movement today. They have done it not only by avoiding the struggle, but, worse yet, by financing their opponents."
William Simon urges an end to such insanity. "Capitalism," he declares, has "a duty to support the efforts of those individuals and institutions which cherish our freedoms and the values of Western civilization."
