“Liberalism,” Ludwig von Mises wrote, “seeks to give men only one thing, the peaceful, undisturbed development of well-being for all, in order thereby to shield them from the external causes of pain and suffering as far as it lies within the power of social institutions to do so at all. To diminish suffering, to increase happiness: that is its aim.”
The doctrine of Classical Liberalism, to which I have always been sympathetic and is the foundation of America, has become a faint shadow of its former self. The philosophies of John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Mary Wollstonecraft and James Madison have been perverted to a barely recognizable form sanctimoniously used by each side of the political spectrum to disastrous result. It is enraging sometimes to think of all the power the Federal government has usurped from the public to pursue partisan agendas. The Democrats have quietly have appropriated the term ‘liberalism’ while summarily dismissing the very tenets of the philosophy. Ever since the rise of the neo-cons, ‘liberalism’ has become a vulgar (and seemingly effective) insult. Both parties have destroyed the good name of liberalism.
Liberalism, classically defined simply embodies a philosophy of public life affirming that society and all its constituents need no central control because they generally manage themselves through voluntary interaction to their mutual benefit. The pillars are threefold– freedom, property and peace. Now while this is stylized and perhaps idealistically naive in the modern world, its pedigree was good enough on which to found the nation.
Personally I feel we have an obligation to uphold liberalism against the Democrat and Republican barbarians who have already arrived at the gate, indeed they have already infiltrated the citadel of our democracy.
And thus I come to another personal dilemma. In looking for employment, I have been attracted to certain government agencies that provide incredibly interesting and germane work to my academic interests. For a guy wrapped up in development, economics, East Asia, trade, leadership and policy, the government offers tremendous opportunity. But how can I reconcile working for an organization that ideally should not even have to exist under Classical Liberalism?! In many developed nations, especially France and Japan, the best and the brightest people enter the civil service. These countries exist as quasi nanny-states that like to mingle in every minute detail of citizens’ lives. As a result, the civil service and formal bureaucracy in each country are necessarily huge, and eat up a huge chunk of citizens’ tax burdens. I cannot accept such a political system that intrudes so deeply into the lives of the public. Government certainly has a role not only to protect rights, but to also serve the public good. This is certainly where the debate is: what is the public good? Did the bustup of Standard Oil at the beginning of the past century serve society; most likely it did since a capitalist economy needs certain safeguards against perversions such as monopoly, insider trading and collusion. It is interesting to note the reemergence of large capitalistic firms nowadays (Wal-Mart comes to mind) that are having a serious adverse effect on the public good (which must be defined more broadly than simple material consumption). The government should by no means arbitrarily interfere in economic activity, but monitor and maintaing the legal and social infrastructure on which the economy relies is important. Look for future postings on the subject of true capitalsim.
I’m glad the USA hasn’t gone to the extreme of European-style socialism, but do I want to be a part of a system that is fostering economic perversions and equally misappropriates hundreds of billions of dollars and misspends the hard-earned money of the citizenry? I just don’t know yet; is it being part of the problem or part of the solution? Is change possible? If the quality of our elected politicians is any measure, than probably not. Perhaps this is a root cause; America’s best and brightest enter many various fields to the collective benefit of our economic and social prosperity. But how many of our most talented people enter politics? Maybe it�s the rejects of society that failing other endeavors, resort to running for public office. The system is so brutal that any competent and talented person would logically rationalize against entering politics. Again this is rather pessimistic, but perhaps the collective sense of civil and civic duty is totally absent. We need talented and enlightened politicians and community leaders at every level of society.
One can sense a current, subtle movement in America where older members of society have unabashedly pursued material consumption and prosperity to the extent that younger members have the luxury and mindset to search for meaning beyond simple accumulation. If this is the case, I am hopeful that some of this deeper meaning might be found in the town halls and congressional chambers throughout the country and bring about a renaissance of true liberalism.
To learn more about the pillars of classical liberalism–freedom, property and peace–continue reading…
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