Some time ago, a Flatley cousin was shoveling horse apples at the family farm in North Gorham when he discovered an unused campaign lawn sign. Despite its age, it was barely stained, and once cleaned, gave off a strange glow.

When moved to the warm kitchen of the farm (where the senior Flatleys spend much of their time), the faded blue turned brighter, and words began to appear. Since the elderly Flatleys were illiterate, they called their reclusive son Mitford from his prayers in the attic for a translation. By the time he arrived, the white letters P-o-l-i-q-u-i-n were receding, to be replaced by a long message – which also disappeared shortly after Mitford read it.

That message was to become the Mitt Flatley basis for a new religion. Much like other communicants with omnipotent correspondents – —such as Mohammed of Islam and Joseph Smith of Latter Day Saints – Mitford never provided an exact translation of the message he received. However, the general instructions were: “America shall leave the false god of Keynes and other advocates of equality and turn to the system approved by the prophets H. Hoover and R. Reagan – known today as the creed of Bush/Romney, Mitt version.”

The creed, according to Flatley disciples: “Abandon hope and Socratic questioning. Turn to pure capitalism and cleave thyself to the marketplace.”

To its believers, this means that free-market fundamentalism is a prescribed system of worship. Neither other economic ideas nor unions shall be tolerated. In free-market theology, the market becomes the god whose divinely ordained processes provide order and balance in the world, and the multinational corporation is the godly instrument to spread and justify this belief,

At public gatherings, free-market believers sing hymns of praise to the angels of profit and untaxed returns. Corporate power takes on divine attributes. The market-god is looked upon by these worshippers as endowed with divine attributes that are to be affirmed by faith. Similar to Christian salvation, the market-god will bring deliverance as long as it is not disturbed from its natural order by regulation or government interference.

Free-market capitalism encourages the accumulation wealth and power without restrictions. In many respects, this “religion” bears the hallmarks of the novelist Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. An early prophet who praised and justified self-interest, “Eine” (as she pronounced her first name) said that the proper purpose of one’s life is the pursuit of one’s own happiness. She further advised that a proper society respects individual rights in the form of laissez-faire capitalism. She became popular with such quotes as, “If any civilization is to survive, it is altruism that men have to reject.” And, “Government help to business is just as disastrous as government persecution.” She also maintained that “parasites, looters, and moochers use the levers of government to steal the fruits of labor.” (In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O’Connor.)

The economic meltdown that began with the collapse of the financial system in 2008 should have shown that the market-god could not guarantee salvation – any more than Objectivism could mean universal happiness. But we have not learned. The current high priest of the faithful, Willard Romney, an apostle of the marketplace, jogs from one audience to another espousing economic ideas as “outre?” as his belief in special underwear, secret weddings, baptism of the dead, or gaining paradise through the efforts of living descendants. Like these similarly weird beliefs, he holds that the theory of the marketplace is unshakeable – ordained by divine decree and proven by science.

Mitford Flatley may have misread the message on that old campaign sign after all.

Thought for the week: The dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex of the human brain, which controls decision-making and problem solving, doesn’t fully develop until past the college years of most American youth.

Rodney Quinn, a former Maine secretary of state, lives in Westbrook. He can be reached at rquinn@maine.rr.com.

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