Of Entrepreneurs, Pastors, and Politicians

My colleague Will Inboden pointed me to this Rasmussen poll taken last week because it combines a few shared interests (politics, enterprise, and the role of religion in American public life) into one simple story. It’s worth a look.

Rasmussen finds that 72 percent of Americans view members of Congress unfavorably, compared to just 6 percent who view small business owners unfavorably and 7 percent who have a negative view of people who start their own businesses (of course, this does make you wonder: who is this small minority who has it in for small business owners?). And while less than one-quarter of Americans think well of Congress, nearly three-quarters have a favorable view of pastors and religious leaders.

The poll would have been better if it had also asked about a couple other service professions such as teachers and doctors, but it is interesting enough as it is. Journalists are faring worse than lawyers and stockbrokers these days, which can give the chattering class something else to worry about besides declining subscriptions. That said, the gulf between bankers on the one side and pastors and entrepreneurs on the other says something very interesting and important about America.

When it comes to Congress, I spend no time wringing my hands about its low approval rating. In many ways nothing is more American than being highly suspicious of the political class. We know from other surveys that we all have a more positive view of our own representatives than of Congress as a whole, which suggests we simply know that the vast majority of people elected don’t have our interests in mind. If you run for Congress, you can expect America to dislike you.

By contrast, even in the wake of highly public scandals in the church, Americans still like the clergy. Pastors understand us. They know what we’re dealing with, even if Congress doesn’t. As the son of a pastor, I can attest to the fact that clergymen are the ones to whom people turn when their marriages are on the rocks, their kids are on drugs, or when they just need someone to talk to about what to do with their lives. We know from our own research on the Prosperity Index that religious participation makes people happier. It stands to reason that people helping others along their path of faith are viewed positively.

And it should also stand to reason that Americans like small business owners and entrepreneurs so much. CEOs fare quite badly in the Rasmussen poll by comparison. That may not be fair to CEOs, but again, the result shows something quite interesting about the American psyche. I’ve written elsewhere about how Indian and American entrepreneurs are alike, especially in one key area: they start their businesses not to make more money (as, say, Chinese entrepreneurs do) but to achieve greater independence. Americans appreciate this fundamental trait of the enterprising class—namely, that entrepreneurs represent freedom and opportunity more than money.

The guardians of faith (clergy) and the protectors of the American ideal (entrepreneurs) help us understand who we are and what we want to be. It shouldn’t be a big surprise, then, that people who want to use our money to tell us what to do or think—be they journalists or congressmen—rub us Americans the wrong way.

Ryan Streeter is a senior fellow at Legatum Institute and can be followed on Twitter here.