Comment left here: http://povertypoliticsandfaith.blogspot.com/2004/09/darwins-influence-on-ruthless-laissez.html Before I comment, your article has a new URL: http://www.icr.org/article/454 Now then, I'm no friend of Darwinism. I'm a six-day creationist. But I am a friend of laissez-faire capitalism. Capitalism is responsible for preserving the lives of untold millions of the weakest and poorest members of society. Its opposite, socialism, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions, and maybe even billions by the end of this century. The poorest members of a "ruthless" capitalist society are better off than the middle class under a "compassionate" socialist dicatorship. "Ruthless laissez-faire capitalism" is sort of a contradiction in terms. "Laissez-faire" means "let us alone." Those who describe themselves as defenders of laissez-faire capitalism will say that the essential nature of l-f capitalism is the "non-aggression axiom," which prohibits the initiation of force or violence. This means the only weapon a true l-f capitalist has is persuasion, not coercion, violence or force. If such a person is "ruthless," it's purely passive. Example: A baker is prepared to sell the last loaf of bread in the store. The rich man offers him $100.00. The poor man has only 50 cents. The baker sells to the highest bidder, sending the poor man home in hunger. "Ruthless?" Compare it with socialism: In the name of the poor, the baker's business is confiscated and the baker imprisoned. The poor man is assigned to work in the bakery, but doesn't know how to make bread. Many starve to death. Which system is more ruthless? The clearest lesson we should learn from the 20th century is that the opposite of laissez-faire capitalism -- socialism -- produces the most horrendous widespread poverty and mass death -- in the name of compassion and the poor. The creationist article on Darwinism and capitalism is filled with attacks on capitalism and capitalists written by far-left opponents of capitalism. It should be balanced by Tom DiLorenzo's book, How Capitalism Saved America. An excerpt is here.