The Agony and the Apostasy

The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo Buonaroti

The construction of the Sistine Chapel (Capella Sistina) was completed in 1481. Its construction was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV for whom it was named. One hundred thirty four feet long and 44 feet wide, the huge chapel is a towering 68 feet high. The ceiling, originally painted in a field of blue with gold stars, was covered in beautiful frescoes by Michelangelo at the behest of Pope Julius II.

Michelangelo labored for four years, from 1508 to 1512. He painted over 5,000 square feet of frescoes containing over 300 figures. Some of the most beautiful art ever created, such as The Creation of Adam, embellish the chapel’s ceiling. In addition to being one of the world’s most talented sculptors and painters, Michelangelo proved to be a highly competent engineer, designing a clever scaffolding system that allowed services to be held in the chapel below as he painted above. Four years of talent, genius, and backbreaking labor resulted in one of the world’s most breathtaking works of art.

And at the end of these four year, Michelangelo approached Pope Julius and, on bended knee, kissed his ring and asked for payment. “No,” the Pope responded, “you did not do that. The chapel was funded by the Church. The paints were purchased by the Church. The laborers who erected your scaffolding were paid by the Church. You did not do that.”

A small fiction, of course, but of a spirit with the narrative presented by the Democratic left. Elizabeth Warren, Barack Obama, and, most recently, Hillary Clinton assert that entrepreneurs do not create businesses and corporations do not create jobs.

Those to the political right, Senator Cruz and friends, are aghast at such apostasy, believing that no one but entrepreneurs and corporations create businesses and jobs.

How to explain this chasm?

First, let’s try to understand what each side is actually saying. The Warren camp means to say that public spending, public infrastructures, public services, are all essential to the entrepreneur and corporations. That businesses and jobs couldn’t be created without reliance on government.

Those on the right recognize that government creates a public infrastructure. And, more importantly, it creates a system of laws that protects each citizen’s liberty and property rights. But they are just as adamant that, government or no, businesses and jobs wouldn’t exist without those who create them.

Both positions are a bit more sympathetic when viewed in a larger context. But which is right? This seems a bit of a standoff, a chicken or the egg puzzle. What came first, the jobs or the highways?

To answer this, we must delve into the tangle of Aristotelian logic and the concept of necessity and sufficiency. While logic can be quite complex (after all, it underlies all computers, the internet, Facebook, and silly cat videos), in this case it is quite straightforward.

This is something you already know. Think of the components of a grilled cheese sandwich: bread and cheese. Is it necessary to have cheese to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Obviously, yes. But is it sufficient to make a grilled cheese sandwich with only cheese? Equally obviously, no.

The cheese is necessary but not sufficient. The bread is also necessary but not sufficient. One needs both cheese and bread to prepare the grilled cheese sandwich. But to make simple toast, the bread is both necessary and sufficient.

Apply to the Sistine Chapel. The Pope is correct, Michelangelo could not have painted the ceiling if the Church had not built the chapel. But the ceiling would not have been painted so beautifully without Michelangelo (or someone of equal talent). Both conditions are necessary for the result. 

Fast forward 1,500 years. Senator Warren is correct that jobs and businesses could not (easily) be created without the infrastructure provided by government. But Senator Cruz is equally correct that jobs and businesses would not exist without entrepreneurs and corporations to create them. Just like a grilled cheese sandwich, we need both government and business. One cannot thrive without the other.

One way to view it is that government creates a canvas upon which the creative, risk-taking entrepreneur paints her vision, creating businesses and jobs as a result.

Which is a tale of caution, for those who would strangle government in the extreme risk the ability of entrepreneurs to create. But those who would smother business risk government as well. It is, after all, the taxes and fees paid by businesses and corporations and taxes paid by wage employees that support government. Without a healthy, bustling economy, from where will government funding be obtained?

Food for thought next time you see corporations and businesses taking it on the chin.