Woke liberals and conservative Christians are in denial in the exact same way.
They share the same economic moral playbook — one that:
shames wanting money
praises hard work
reveres generosity
Without ever admitting those three beliefs directly contradict.
This creates a culture where blatant lies to conceal self-interest are the norm.
“Our firm is only as strong as the communities we serve, and we are dedicated to creating opportunities for financial growth worldwide.”
-J.P. Morgan’s “About Us” page
Do you honestly believe making money isn’t J.P. Morgan’s first priority? Please tell me “no”, don’t get knocked out in level one.
Corporate PR like this is just one example of the make-believe we’re surrounded by — and that we tacitly agree to play along with. The contradictions start with how we think about money.
On Wanting Money
The desire for more money than you have — especially to be rich — is branded as unspiritual and immoral. This is denial in its purest form.
From the destitute to the ultra-wealthy, from scrappy startups to international conglomerates to elite universities to the Catholic Church, no one turns down a windfall.
If a meaningful sum appeared in anyone’s bank account — even if they planned to give it all away — they’d feel better off.
This is most glaring in the “limousine liberal” — the product of private schools, preaching the virtue of selflessness while holding tight to their wealth enough to keep their kids on top of any system they propose.
On Hard Work
Hard work is revered, but work always has an exchange rate with money.
Even if you’re building houses in impoverished communities, you could instead earn money elsewhere and pay someone else to do it — it would feel less personal, but the economic exchange holds.
However, if you acknowledge this exchange rate with the statement:
“I’m working hard to become rich”
you’ve now acknowledged a desire for money — which, per the above, makes you unspiritual.
On Generosity
Generosity is hailed as the highest moral act.
Here’s an obvious truth: to give, you must first have. There’s no such thing as a destitute philanthropist.
Yet the desire to become rich is viewed as unspiritual and immoral. So what’s the moral ideal?
Trust Fund Morality
If getting is shameful but having is required for generosity, the self-made entrepreneur is not the pinnacle of virtue — unless they actually manage to convince us that their wealth was accidental.
No, the moral ideal is someone who has without getting and chooses to give.
So not the entrepreneur (too much getting), but their morally untainted philanthropic trust fund kid.
The Trap
For those not born into it, this is a role you can’t audition for (unless you marry in, more on that later).
The rest of us have two options:
Work hard and deny wealth as the desired outcome — see J.P. Morgan’s “About Us” page for inspiration.
Accept our lower station and properly worship the generous trust fund kid.
To those of us in the free world who value individualism and self-determination, the notion that our highest calling is to worship the subset of inheritees who choose to be philanthropists is violating.
Yet this seems like the obvious intellectual conclusion of the value system I grew up with and instinctually have.
How Do We Escape?
I don’t think the trap was laid as a nefarious plot — it’s more that the full chain of reasoning is never pieced together and spoken out loud.
Instead, we see it in fragments: a payday lender trapping the poor in debt is bad, mowing your elderly neighbor’s lawn is good, and it’s kind that Bezos’s ex-wife is choosing to give away a large portion of the money she got in the divorce.
The problem is we have turned these values into absolutes — instead of recognizing them as three poles we must continually balance our lives between.
When this balance is lost, hypocrisy becomes the dominant religion.