All good people are concerned about the plight of the poor, and there are a multitude of ways to address this. The umbrella of “social justice” seems to get bigger every year, with Millenium Development Goals, the ONE campaign, and a host of other foreign aid projects that seek to remove the scourge of abject poverty. However, many of these projects overlook one fact: foreign aid doesn’t work.

As PovertyCure‘s Michael Miller has said,

While there are some success stories, aid has been largely ineffective. Now why is that? John Paul II said that “The primary fault of socialism was anthropological in nature.” What he meant was, socialism failed because it got the person wrong. Well, I would argue that aid failed because it gets the person wrong.

Leslie Eastman, of Legal Insurrection, echoes this sentiment in a recent blog post addressing the so-called “fiscal cliff”, stating that the answer to our economic woes is the church, with its focus on subsidiarity, and on the free market. She writes:

Mark Meckler, noted national Tea Party spokesperson and founder of Citizens for Self Governance, recently attended a dinner at the Acton Institute.The Acton Institute works to promote a free and civil society” characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.” A great deal of their efforts are directed at highlighting the benefits of free market to clergy.

“It’s inspiring to know that the Acton Institute exists and is working to effect cultural change in the clergy surrounding the issue of free markets and free societies,” said Meckler. “The founder of Acton, Father Sirico has written the best book ever on the morality of a free market. His new book, Defending the Free Market; The Moral Case for a Free Economy, presents a clear and convincing case that a free economy promotes charity, selflessness, and kindness and is the surest route to a moral and socially–just society.”

Knowing that economic justice IS social justice is one step closer to alleviating poverty. Thank you, Legal Insurrection, for helping to spread the word.