Who Was Thomas Malthus? And Who Are the Standard-Bearers for his Ideas Today?

Thomas Malthus, of course, was an English clergyman remembered today principally for his work in economics--which few seem to understand, in spite of his explicitness about his concerns (I suspect, because few bother to actually read him). Simply put, he was a champion of the landowners who was eager to crush any hope of the existence of a fairer and freer society and justify callousness toward the poor--and the intellectual tradition which followed from his work is inseparable from that view. Naturally it has historically been the right which has cited Malthus, while progressives spurned his views. However, in an age in which the right has identified itself with the defense of capitalism above all, and environmental crisis has called into question the reconcilability of the freedoms of business with ecological sustainability, the right has distanced itself from Malthus, favoring Cornucopianism instead, while ostensible progressives embrace the Malthusian perspective--all of it, whether explicitly or implicitly, consciously or unconsciously.

One may see in that yet another example of the extreme muddle into which the late twentieth century plunged what passes for political thought.