ONE
Did Nineteenth-CenturyCapitalistsWantthe
Poorto Die?
To SupportLaissezFaireIs to Murderthe Poor?
Thefrequentlyrepeatedaccusationis as follows.In the nineteenthcentury,the free-
marketadvocatesHerbertSpencerand WilliamGrahamSumnerarguedfor an unregulat-
ed economyandagainstthe welfarestate.Theysupposedlylikenedcompetitionin the
marketplaceto strugglein the jungle.Accordingto this interpretation,personswhorose
to wealthor maintainedtheirwealthwerethe fitteston accountof theirinbornbiological
makeup,on accountof theirgenes.Dueto theirbeneficentphysiology,theseplutocrats
earnedeveryopportunityto thriveand havechildren.Throughtheirchildren,theseplu-
tocratsshalltransmit,to futuregenerations,the biologicaltraitsthathadadvantaged
themthroughouttheirlives.By contrast,personswhoremainedin penurywereunfitand
deservedto die. We are toldthat this is the reasonwhySpencerand Sumneropposedtax-
fundedwelfare—if tax-fundedwelfarekeptpoorpeoplealive,financiallysupporting
thesestragglerswastedresourcesandheldbackeveryoneelse,particularlythe much-
betterrichpeople.Supposedly,thismisapplicationof Darwiniantheoriesrationalizes
right-wingpublicpolicy.We are toldthatthistheoryhas the namesocialDarwinism.
Worse,this misappliedtheorywasextendedto justifyotherformsof bigotry.Ultimately,
socialDarwinistsemployedtheirrationalizationsto advanceeveryconceivableright-
wing-ism: capitalism,classism,elitism,able-ism,scientism,racism,sexism,imperialism,
militarism,andfascism.Eachof these–isms ultimatelycametogetherto formone final
- ism: Nazism.By implication,this fableinstructsus, free-marketadvocacyindirectly
broughtaboutWorldWarTwoandthe Holocaust,andit followsthatanyonein the
presentwhowishesto reducetax-fundedwelfarespendingis a bigotas the Naziswere.
Therefore,any and everyopponentof tax-fundedwelfarespendingoughtto be shunned
as a bigot,and particularopprobriummustbe cast not merelyuponSpencerand Sumner,
but alsouponAynRand,whomthe politicalLefthas additionallycastigatedas a social
Darwinist.
Henceforthin this tome,I shall,for the mostpart,dispensewithplacingthe expression
socialDarwinismin scarequotationmarks.Bearin mindthat,in almostanyinstance
whereinyoucomeacrossmy usageof the expression,it shouldbe readas if thereare
scarequotationmarks.
In BookTwoI mentionedthe monographSocialDarwinismin AmericanThought, au-
thoredby ColumbiaUniversityhistorianRichardHofstadter(1916–1970).I willhence-
3