A writer-editor-teacher’s quote of the week 199

Ultimately, reprioritizing work as a social good puts the “political” back in “political economy.” Rather than allowing purely commercial indices to dictate our economic policies – whatever maximizes a company’s profits, whatever keeps prices low for consumers – we can deliberate together how we want to produce and distribute the goods we need. Our role as a producers is not incidental for these deliberations; it is a fundamental component of our individual lives and communities.

Another way of putting this in [American political philosopher Michael] Sandel’s terms: the market can’t solve problems or answer questions that belong in the realm of democratic deliberation. Deciding what will contribute to the common good “cannot be achieved through economic activity alone . . . It requires deliberating with our fellow citizens about how to bring a just and good society, one that cultivates civic virtue and enables us to reason together about the purposes worthy of our political community.” Insisting, as corporations, lobbyists, and many of our politicians do, that the best policy is always whatever is best for consumers is a simplification that preempts true democratic deliberation. It reduces all social goods to one: the efficient satisfaction of appetites. It treats citizens as units, not agents.

— from “Let Them Eat TVs” by Regina Munch, published in Commonweal in June 2023. 

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