Marco Rubio cited Catholic social teaching in a speech challenging his own party for ignoring the needs of workers, calling for an economy focused on the dignity of work.
Rubio warned against socialism but argued both Republicans and Democrats err in their views about economic policy, during a speech Tuesday at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Rubio said conservatives have been too concerned with defending businesses’ right to make a profit and shareholders’ right to earn from their investments, often neglecting the rights of workers to share in the benefits of their labor and ignoring businesses’ obligation to act in their workers’ and country’s best interests. Liberals, meanwhile, have championed workers’ rights, he said, but have failed to appreciate the value of work or businesses’ right to make a profit.
Rubio instead called for a “common-good capitalism” in which “workers fulfill their obligation to work and enjoy the benefits of their work; and where businesses enjoy their right to make a profit and reinvest enough of those profits to create dignified work for Americans.”
In laying out his argument, the Florida senator referenced Rerum Novarum, an 1891 encyclical about labor issued by Pope Leo XIII. The papal document presents the argument that the goal of any society is to “‘make men better’ by providing regular people the opportunity to attain the dignity that comes from hard work, ownership, and raising a family,” said Rubio.
Dignified work allows people to give time to churches, charities, and other community groups said Rubio. It also “makes it easier to form and raise strong families in stable communities.”
Rubio warned that families and communities erode when economies fail to offer dignified work, suffering declines in marriage, childbirth, and life expectancy, as well as increases in “drug dependency, suicides, and other deaths of despair.”
The speech expanded upon an op-ed Rubio wrote in August about the dignity of work for First Things, a conservative religious magazine. Rubio, a Catholic, has come into conflict with his party in recent years on issues pertaining to taxes and relief for poor families. Two years ago, he pushed Republican Senate leaders for an expansion of the child tax credit, resulting in a small increase. In May, Rubio’s office released a report finding that investment has prioritized short-term profits for investors over long-term innovation that benefits more people.
