PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
1. Milton Friedman asked, Who makes the decisions? Well, in some cases, the government:
a. The only entity capable of serving and protecting individual liberty, as in defense.
b. The administration of justice.
c. The maintenance and oversight of federal infrastructure: roads, waterways, parks, etc.
2. But government in education? Healthcare? Automobile production? And dubious and absurd programs designed to bring about equality? Shouldnt these decisions be left to the individual, or to the free market, in which forces compete to serve the individual, who will be the arbiter of their success?
3. But what about the abuses of the free market?
a. Some will be corrected by the law, and if there is no current law, the citizenry will demand such.
b. Some abuse run afoul of custom .these will be corrected by censure, withdrawal of custom, or may be criminalized.
c. Alas, some must be endured, as they would be under any system of government, business or administration.
4. Now, here is the determining criterion as to which is better: which is better able to correct itself? This is the difference between, as Thomas Sowell would say, the free market (constrained) and the Liberal (unconstrained) view of the world. Either side may be wrong about plans, or about programs. But which system is better able to discard the failed and experiment to find the new.
a. The constrained view is that no human beings, nor any conglomeration of same, are omnipotent, nor omniscient, nor omnibenevolent. We are even incapable of knowing the true nature of the problems we face. This may be called the Tragic View. The values of one generation are seen later as absurd: slavery, phenology, lobotomy, women as property, etc.
5. The answer is the free market. It is not perfect; it is simply better than state control. It is the one that has to respond quickly and effectively to dissatisfaction and to demand.
a. In the free market, if a product or service does not please, it is discontinued. Compare that to government persistence and expansion of programs that proven to have failed decades ago: farm subsidies, aid to Africa, busing, etc.
6. In the free market, every man, woman and child is scheming to find a better way to make a product or service that will make a fortune!
7. Hayek points out that there are no solutions, merely tradeoffs. Come up with a way to provide healthcare insurance to all the uninsured but at the cost of dismantling the healthcare system to the remaining millions? Rationing, shortages, abuse, delay and injustice.
8. All civilizations need and get government. And many of these began as welfare states, dedicated, supposedly, to distributing the abundant good things to all. The results can be seen in the failures of communist states, socialist states, with the resultant costs, rationing, dissolution. We get to choose between liberty- the freedom from the state to pursue happiness- and some imaginery equality which would require a state capable and empowered to function in all facets of life, which means totalitarianism, dictatorship.
9. The individual must demand the reduction of state, and state powers to the point necessary to carry out legitimate purposes. We have the instructions, called the Constitution.
Mamet, The Secret Knowledge, p. 58-61
a. The only entity capable of serving and protecting individual liberty, as in defense.
b. The administration of justice.
c. The maintenance and oversight of federal infrastructure: roads, waterways, parks, etc.
2. But government in education? Healthcare? Automobile production? And dubious and absurd programs designed to bring about equality? Shouldnt these decisions be left to the individual, or to the free market, in which forces compete to serve the individual, who will be the arbiter of their success?
3. But what about the abuses of the free market?
a. Some will be corrected by the law, and if there is no current law, the citizenry will demand such.
b. Some abuse run afoul of custom .these will be corrected by censure, withdrawal of custom, or may be criminalized.
c. Alas, some must be endured, as they would be under any system of government, business or administration.
4. Now, here is the determining criterion as to which is better: which is better able to correct itself? This is the difference between, as Thomas Sowell would say, the free market (constrained) and the Liberal (unconstrained) view of the world. Either side may be wrong about plans, or about programs. But which system is better able to discard the failed and experiment to find the new.
a. The constrained view is that no human beings, nor any conglomeration of same, are omnipotent, nor omniscient, nor omnibenevolent. We are even incapable of knowing the true nature of the problems we face. This may be called the Tragic View. The values of one generation are seen later as absurd: slavery, phenology, lobotomy, women as property, etc.
5. The answer is the free market. It is not perfect; it is simply better than state control. It is the one that has to respond quickly and effectively to dissatisfaction and to demand.
a. In the free market, if a product or service does not please, it is discontinued. Compare that to government persistence and expansion of programs that proven to have failed decades ago: farm subsidies, aid to Africa, busing, etc.
6. In the free market, every man, woman and child is scheming to find a better way to make a product or service that will make a fortune!
7. Hayek points out that there are no solutions, merely tradeoffs. Come up with a way to provide healthcare insurance to all the uninsured but at the cost of dismantling the healthcare system to the remaining millions? Rationing, shortages, abuse, delay and injustice.
8. All civilizations need and get government. And many of these began as welfare states, dedicated, supposedly, to distributing the abundant good things to all. The results can be seen in the failures of communist states, socialist states, with the resultant costs, rationing, dissolution. We get to choose between liberty- the freedom from the state to pursue happiness- and some imaginery equality which would require a state capable and empowered to function in all facets of life, which means totalitarianism, dictatorship.
9. The individual must demand the reduction of state, and state powers to the point necessary to carry out legitimate purposes. We have the instructions, called the Constitution.
Mamet, The Secret Knowledge, p. 58-61