Document Type

Article

Abstract

This review critiques Rutger Bregman’s top-down blueprint—higher taxes, new laws, and big-ticket nonprofits—as a centralized moralism that sidelines the institutions that actually nurture prosperity and dignity: family, church, enterprise, and local associations. I contrast Bregman’s Robin-Hood rhetoric (and his School for Moral Ambition) with a subsidiarity-driven vision rooted in Tocqueville, Kuyper, and Nisbet, and with Michael Pakaluk’s call for vocation within business. Drawing on research by Owen Zidar (the “stealthy wealthy”) and The Millionaire Next Door, I argue Bregman caricatures the rich and misunderstands how wealth is created.

I also question his nonprofit model: celebrating outputs (money raised, nets distributed) over outcomes, noting malaria’s decline requires enterprise, technology, and local trust, not stunt fundraising alone. The piece closes by proposing moral imagination—formed by stories, practices, and civil society—as a more durable path than policy maximalism, offering a bottom-up antidote to Bregman’s urgent, centralized campaign.

Publication Date

9-16-2025

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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https://rlo.acton.org/archives/127478-rutger-bregmans-vision-moral-ambition-without-imagination.html

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