I’m ALL for an outpouring of charity in times like these (and even more so when it ISN’T in primetime news). But I’m convinced the best hope for Haiti lies in Haiti. So how do our philanthrocapitalistic efforts truly empower grassroots, long-term, sustainable solutions?

Looking forward to the new book…

‘Tis a pity that Matthew or Michael did not read the rest of the paragraph, for they would have gotten a whole new perspective on the Adam Smith they think they know. Here is what was left out, right after where their truncated quote ends: “…would occasion a more real disturbance”:

“Human nature startles with horror at the thought, and the world, in its greatest depravity and corruption, never produced such a villain as could be capable of entertaining it. But what makes this difference? When our passive feelings are almost always so sordid and so selfish, how comes it that our active principles should often be so generous and so noble? When we are always so much more deeply affected by whatever concerns ourselves, than by whatever concerns other men; what is it which prompts the generous, upon all occasions, and the mean upon many, to sacrifice their own interests to the greater interests of others? It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which Nature has lighted up in the human heart, that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct. It is he who, whenever we are about to act so as to affect the happiness of others, calls to us, with a voice capable of astonishing the most presumptuous of our passions, that we are but one of the multitude, in no respect better than any other in it; and that when we prefer ourselves so shamefully and so blindly to others, we become the proper objects of resentment, abhorrence, and execration. It is from him only that we learn the real littleness of ourselves, and of whatever relates to ourselves, and the natural misrepresentations of self-love can be corrected only by the eye of this impartial spectator. It is he who shows us the propriety of generosity and the deformity of injustice; the propriety of resigning the greatest interests of our own, for the yet greater interests of others, and the deformity of doing the smallest injury to another, in order to obtain the greatest benefit to ourselves. It is not the love of our neighbour, it is not the love of mankind, which upon many occasions prompts us to the practice of those divine virtues. It is a stronger love, a more powerful affection, which generally takes place upon such occasions; the love of what is honourable and noble, of the grandeur, and dignity, and superiority of our own characters” (TMA III.3.5: 136-37).

I suggest a different take on Adam Smith’s insightful comment on how “a man of humanity” would react to an earthquake in distant China (then a year’s sailing from Britain and the same back). Yes, the world has grown smaller today, but the same human spirit, extolled by Smith, is evident in what follows today in near-by Caribbean.

I would wish that Matthew and Michael would spread that message about Adam Smith’s legacy on such occasions.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by mattbish: #Haiti, philanthrocapitalism and the heart strings – our latest Philanthrocapitalism blog: http://bit.ly/7M2e9j…