We have narrated a history in which basic criticisms of business are repeated over and over. Each era brings new personalities, new targets, and some new issues, but the fundamental language and substance of criticism remain the same. The history of business criticism is at root a dialogue between critics and defenders of capitalism. Imagine a dinner party at which Aristotle, St. Augustine, Thomas Jefferson, and Ralph Nader sat at one table and Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Ronald Reagan at another. Imagine the harmony among table mates as contrasted with the gulf between the two groups.

There is no question that industrial capitalism is a historical force for continuous, turbulent social change; it is, as the economist Joseph Shumpeter wrote in 1942, “a perennial gale of creative destruction” that strains institutions and challenges existing authority.⁶⁴ The defense of capitalism is that, for the most part, the changes it brings represent progress, a condition of improvement for humanity. All the while that critics have been objecting, it has steadily improved living standards for millions. In the United States, it operates in a democratic political system that has reformed its greatest abuses over the years. As against promoting greed and avarice, it has instead promoted positive cultural values such as imagination, innovation, cooperation, hard work, and the interpersonal trust necessary to conduct millions of daily business transactions. In the words of one defender, market capitalism is triumphant in the face of ageless criticism.

If the principles of commerce and technology, on which America is founded, are in some ways less noble than those of the ancient world, they are also more realistic and more practical. Moreover, they have produced not just material but also moral progress: the abolition of slavery, the elevation of countless people from poverty to comfort, the relief of suffering produced by disease, humanitarian campaigns against torture and famine all over the world, and a widely shared conception of human rights, human freedom, and human dignity.⁶⁵

In the end, a broad spectrum of criticism is an important check on business power. Many legitimate criticisms demand attention. If criticism is properly channeled, it can preserve the best of the business institution and bring wide benefit. In Ralph Nader's words: “Whenever, in our nation's history, people successfully challenge the excessive power of commercial interests, whether over workers, child labor, minorities, consumers and the environment, the country became better and the economy stronger.”⁶⁶

⁶⁴Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1976), p. 143; originally published in 1942.

⁶⁵ Dinesh D'Souza, The Virtue of Prosperity (New York: Free Press, 2000), pp. 186–87.

⁶⁶ “Human Need Trumps Corporate Greed,” The Wall Street Journal, October 25, 2000, p. A22.