The phrase “the politics of envy” appears from time to time in political conversation, and we are likely to hear it more in days to come, given the success a few candidates for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have enjoyed in recent primary elections. Socialism and its parent political philosophy, Marxism, condemn a world of “inequality.” At some point, this may stir up sentiments of envy on the part of the “have-nots,” as they see that they fall short of the “haves.” To be sure, Winston Churchill famously called socialism the “gospel of envy.” Some who run on a socialist platform rely on stirring up these sentiments. For that reason, and given the precarious times in which we live, it is important to understand envy and embrace its opposite: contentment.
Envy is a grave challenge to an individual’s well-being and to the health of a society. The most important work written on the subject is Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour by German–American sociologist and anthropologist, Helmut Schoeck. His is a comprehensive study of envy: He argues that envy is an inescapable part of the human condition and that it is not understood as well as it should be. He warns the reader of the destructive tendencies of envy and notes that part of Marxist doctrine is to encourage envy—if not, social change can’t occur. For that reason, it is immoral to tell people they should not be envious; that is to say, it is morally wrong to encourage people to be content with what they have. Stated yet again, the success of socialism depends on cultivating a “virtue of envy.”
Matt Oberdick, director of the Center for Culture and the Family, warns,
Socialist rhetoric is becoming increasingly mainstream. And a growing number of young Americans are embracing ideas that previous generations would have recognized as fundamentally incompatible with liberty . . . These are not ideas developing in a distant or abstract place. They are taking root here in the United States—in our cities, our universities, and our public debates.
Indeed, the universities are one of the few places on the planet where Marxist/Socialist ideas are kept on life support.
The Social and Political Dimensions of Envy
Envy doesn’t stand alone; it seeks an object. For that reason, the seventh commandment doesn’t simply say, “Don’t be envious.” Rather, it reads, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exod 20:17). We are envious when someone else has something that we find enticing. A late model SUV may attract my attention in the showroom. I may get dreamy, I may become wistful, but if the same car shows up in my neighbor’s driveway, the misery begins. Time to look at the budget and figure out the Kelley Blue Book trade-in value on my own SUV.
The success of socialism depends on cultivating a “virtue of envy.”
Socialists argue that any significant inequality is wrong. One solution is to reduce inequality by improving the conditions of the have-nots, but it may work just as well to lessen the circumstances of the haves. Either may be satisfactory, but the latter may even be best. It is a matter of “justice.” Even more, some condemn any economic system as evil that allows individuals to accumulate substantial wealth, as is the case in the US.
Although there have been well-intended people who thought socialism might be good for the downtrodden, much of the rhetoric today seems to be little more than a condemnation of those who have wealth. No one, however, seems to be saying much about the plight of the genuinely poor or how they might best be helped. Despite the vast amounts of money the country has spent trying to alleviate poverty, the best way to help the misfortunate is still too often a mystery. Do today’s socialists really care? It is hard to know.
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that, ironically, the more equal a society becomes, the more its citizens notice the disparity between the haves and the have-nots—or perhaps better said: the “have-more” and “have-less.” In other words, reducing inequality doesn’t seem to eliminate envy.
As it festers, envy takes delight in the misfortune of those who enjoy advantages not available to others. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant explains that envy is a tendency “to view the well-being of others with distress, even though it does not detract from one’s own.” Kant says that the envious person uses the wrong standard to evaluate their own situation. Although I should ask if I am satisfied with my own well-being, I ask instead how my situation compares with another’s. This is an invidious comparison, though, because there will always be someone better situated than me. I will never be satisfied.
Envy, Kant continues, is only satisfied when another’s good fortune is destroyed. Schoeck succinctly explains, “The envious man thinks that if his neighbor breaks a leg, he will be able to walk better himself.”
One further step: If I want to persuade you that we need radical political change in favor of something more “just,” I need to convince you that you are miserable—even if you are not. It doesn’t matter how good you think your circumstances may be, don’t you realize how unhappy you are? It’s not hard to see how envy overwhelms gratitude.
It Is Worse Than You Think
Envy is immoral; it is a sin, it is a vice, and it is a fast track to an ungrateful, dismal life. It is not a virtue—and the more you know, the worse it gets. Not only is it condemned in the tenth commandment, it is also one of the seven deadly sins.
If I want to persuade you that we need radical political change in favor of something more “just,” I need to convince you that you are miserable—even if you are not.
New Testament admonitions are harsh; Jesus warns his listeners to guard their hearts: “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Jesus further explains that the sins that defile a person come from the untamed desires in the heart.
James warns,
You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (Jas 4:2–4).
Both the Epistle to the Ephesians and the Epistle to the Colossians regard the sin of covetousness as a kind of idolatry and associate it with sexual immorality and impurity which provokes the “wrath of God.”
The first line of defense against envy, then, starts in the heart. The book of Proverbs explains, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
The political upshot of all of this is that anyone who promotes political change by inciting envy and those who allow themselves to be allured by envy are in very dangerous territory because they are blinded, and they become incapable of gratitude. Anne Hendershott writes,
Envy derives from the Latin invidia, which means “non sight.” This etymology suggests that envy arises from, and creates, a form of blindness or lack of perspective. In Purgatorio, Dante Alighieri had the envious punished by having to wear penitential gray cloaks, their eyes sewn shut with iron wire because the truly envious are blind to the goodness, truth, and beauty around them—warning that the envious are blind to reason and love, spending their days tormented by resentment toward those who possess that which they covet.
Contentment Is “Great Gain”
Some suggest that as religion recedes in American society, people are putting their faith in socialism. Nothing else really explains why some Americans are finding socialism attractive. But this, as the country song goes, “is looking for love in all the wrong places.” Proponents of socialism in the US point to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway as examples of socialist countries we should emulate, but they don’t understand the nature of those countries. As the Danish prime minister has insisted, “We are a market economy.” The possibilities go down very quickly from there. The late Hugo Chavez tried to make Venezuela socialist and ruined the country. Other possibilities are Cuba and North Korea. Who wants to live there? Only in the US are people getting excited about socialism, but it is an enthusiasm rooted in ignorance.
1 Timothy provides a classic warning against the love of money and stresses that “if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” But, on balance, the scriptural attention to envy is quite grim, and that suggests just how dangerous covetousness can be.
As is often the case, St. Thomas Aquinas provides practical guidance by softening the biblical blow, so to speak, and offering a forward-looking approach to the issue. The Angelic Doctor explains how the virtue of contentment is an antidote to envy. Contentment, as a virtue, is an expression of the cardinal virtue of temperance. It is a habit that moderates our interest in the things around us, helping us to maintain a middle place between, in this case, unhinged asceticism on one side and envy and greed on the other. This is what Aristotle calls a “golden mean.”
Like all the other virtues, most people lean in one direction more than the other, so in this case, the typical tendency is toward the latter, the excess of covetousness. This calls for us to moderate our desire for external goods, not demand excessive or superfluous requirements for happiness. While true happiness will only be found in the beatific contemplation of God himself, an “imperfect” happiness is possible in this life, or as the Baltimore Catechism says, we can be “reasonably happy.”
Human beings possess a desire for truth and goodness that temporary pleasures cannot satisfy. These restless yearnings find their peace and fulfillment only in God. This is because, as St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, writes, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”