My response to some guy who disagreed with the notion, "Market good, govt bad:"
Do you really need a definition of property rights? Well, okay. The right to own and control property is essential and central to the following end: maximum prosperity for all involved. Witness the unprecedented prosperity enjoyed by Americans. I have to be able to acquire, own and dispose of property, completely freely, in order to be able to make decisions and predicts outcomes. If I chose a green shirt today but you have the right to either rip it from my body or force me to wear something else, why would I ever have provided the "public service" I engaged in that won me my shirt? What's mine must absolutely remain mine. And I can do or not do whatever I want with it. I can burn my shirt. I can wear it as a hat. I can give it away or sell it. It's called freedom, man. And, again, you can know it's good by its observable fruits: American prosperity.
Coercion IS an ultimate evil. What? You should be able to force me to do whatever you want me to do or ANYTHING you want me to do? Turn that around. I should be able to force YOU to do or not do anything?
You said, "in the system he advocates, business and industry, once stripped of the restrictions placed on them by government, would have even more coercive power." Business and industry have NO coercive power. A businessman or industrialist can't force you to buy his products or services. You choose to buy or not buy. Only the govt uses coercion. There is such a thing as business collusion with govt to inhibit newer, smaller firms to enter a market. etc., but that perniciousness occurs outside anything recommended in the book.
Hey! Here's an idea. Let's hear your brilliant alternatives to the book's ideas. Anyone can carp about someone else's ideas. Let's hear your specific counterpoints.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Freedom and the Rule of Law
John Locke, in his Second Treatise on Govt, wrote that the end of the law is to "preserve and enlarge freedom."
Psalm 1 references love of law and how it leads to prosperity.
These statements are true when it comes to eternal or natural law. But they're hard to reconcile with virtually every law written in our country since our founding. In fact, our post-constitutional laws squander and diminish freedom; they at least slow progress toward greater prosperity if not stifle it.
This is the epitome of trading freedom for perceived security. This is what happens when we engage in the game of comparisons between people of differing levels or degrees of prosperity and then vote for representatives who pass laws to punish those whose lives we covet; or when an established business lobbies for the passage of laws that will inhibit smaller companies entrance into its market.
The existence of anti-freedom laws speaks to the perceived failures of capitalism: free markets, free trade and association and the sanctity of the ownership and control of private property. I've said it several times. Other systems, from socialism to communism and fascism to progressivism, mercantilism or any kind of mixed economy where people aren't free to trade whatever they want and can for whatever they want and can, promise equality of outcomes. They've never achieved it. But that fact is forgotten amid the faked reality, the dream of such equality. I can give you analogies illustrating where you'll agree such doesn't work. But if you want to believe there are circumstances where it will work, I can't help you. I can't change your delusions.
Capitalism promises equal rights and opportunities for success. But the rest is up to you. Your results are up to you and your ability and individual drive and effort. For most people, that's not enough. They're childish in their desire for the impossible. They're childish in their jealousy of others. "That's not fair!" they say. And so they vote for someone to initiate force against 'life's winners.' They believe the fallacy that they are lifted when someone else is lowered. It makes them feel better. "If I can't do it, no one should be able to do it." They remind me of the proverbial bucket of crabs. When one gets close to crawling out of the bucket, they pull him back down.
This is what's wrong in America today. Our laws and our lawmakers reflect the above childish outlook. Most of us share it. So we'll continue as we have for over 150 years. And we'll continue to wonder why the economy doesn't improve as we further and further enslave those whose efforts, ability drive would save the economy and improve all of our lives if only we'd free them by repealing laws that have nothing to do with preserving and enlarging freedom. I hate it when someone gets more pizza than I do. So let's outlaw pizza.
Psalm 1 references love of law and how it leads to prosperity.
These statements are true when it comes to eternal or natural law. But they're hard to reconcile with virtually every law written in our country since our founding. In fact, our post-constitutional laws squander and diminish freedom; they at least slow progress toward greater prosperity if not stifle it.
This is the epitome of trading freedom for perceived security. This is what happens when we engage in the game of comparisons between people of differing levels or degrees of prosperity and then vote for representatives who pass laws to punish those whose lives we covet; or when an established business lobbies for the passage of laws that will inhibit smaller companies entrance into its market.
The existence of anti-freedom laws speaks to the perceived failures of capitalism: free markets, free trade and association and the sanctity of the ownership and control of private property. I've said it several times. Other systems, from socialism to communism and fascism to progressivism, mercantilism or any kind of mixed economy where people aren't free to trade whatever they want and can for whatever they want and can, promise equality of outcomes. They've never achieved it. But that fact is forgotten amid the faked reality, the dream of such equality. I can give you analogies illustrating where you'll agree such doesn't work. But if you want to believe there are circumstances where it will work, I can't help you. I can't change your delusions.
Capitalism promises equal rights and opportunities for success. But the rest is up to you. Your results are up to you and your ability and individual drive and effort. For most people, that's not enough. They're childish in their desire for the impossible. They're childish in their jealousy of others. "That's not fair!" they say. And so they vote for someone to initiate force against 'life's winners.' They believe the fallacy that they are lifted when someone else is lowered. It makes them feel better. "If I can't do it, no one should be able to do it." They remind me of the proverbial bucket of crabs. When one gets close to crawling out of the bucket, they pull him back down.
This is what's wrong in America today. Our laws and our lawmakers reflect the above childish outlook. Most of us share it. So we'll continue as we have for over 150 years. And we'll continue to wonder why the economy doesn't improve as we further and further enslave those whose efforts, ability drive would save the economy and improve all of our lives if only we'd free them by repealing laws that have nothing to do with preserving and enlarging freedom. I hate it when someone gets more pizza than I do. So let's outlaw pizza.
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