Quote of the Day: Laissez Faire and Man's Imperfection
Ludwig von Mises was born on September 29, 1881 in Austria. He was an Austrian economist and philosopher in addition to being one of the main intellectuals of the start of the modern libertarian movement. He was forced to flee Austria due to his Jewish heritage and eventuall found himself in New York City as a visiting professor at New York University until 1969 and dies 4 years later in 1973. Today he has an economic institute dedicated to his memory and the free market principles he proposed. I encourage you to visit the Ludwig von Mises Institute's website to find out more.
If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.
--Ludwig von Mises
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Liberals, fascists, communists, and more generally statists, (note: I will refer to this whole group as the left in the remainder of this post), for all they are worth seem to reject the idea that the government that serves best that serves least. This is the opposite of Libertarians and for the most part conservatives who are a bit hypocritical in my view on their idea of smaller government as they fall into government intervention due to the moral weakness of men. Liberals are a bit confused as well in their policies that create bigger government.
The left believes that people upon their own free will and choice cannot achieve in lifeso government must fill those deficiencies with government programs. Those who have achieved some measure of success are generally viewed upon as statistical anomalies that have achieved their status through deceptive practices and greed. To be fair many conservatives believe in government intervention to force what they deem morally straight decisions because people left to their own devices will engage in morally weak decisions like gay marriage, abortion, drug use and the like.
In turn since all success or proper choice is a mere statistical anomaly under the pretenses that people if left to their own devices will not be able to sustain themselves either partially or fully because man is fallible or lacking moral strength to engage in wholesome activities or choices then government must intervene.
Questionable Logic
If man is fallible and unable to make personal moral decisions then how is the government able to make such decisions? If success is a statistical anomaly how can government achieve success for the collective? These are the questions that must be asked when a politician of the left or socially conservative right tell you that government must intervene.
These questions derive from the logic that government is not made up of demigods or noble men. Instead government is controlled by fallible men and woman with questionable moral judgment. This idea does not seem to be accepted by the groups who push for more governmental control but the logic is irrefutable.
Examples can be made all over the world. In an attempt to get health care for all countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, and many others in Europe have adopted nationalized health care systems. The systems have largely been a failure delivering lower quality health care to individuals, governmental bureaucracies deciding if individuals should receive treatment, and thousands of canceled surgeries each month. The People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国) ruled with an iron fist for decades from the Communist takeover in 1949 by Mao Zedong (毛泽东）and the country by in large achieved equality of society but with the end result being poverty and suffering (note that these are the results of socialism when attempting to create a more equal society) until Deng Xiaoping (邓小平）took office became the leader in 1978. Deng realized that a government controlled economy had failed because it could not compete or produce goods in an economically viable fashion. Deng instituted changes that resulted in a capitalist based economy with less governmental control and privatized industry encouraged. Today China has the fastest growing economy in the world with yearly growth rates from 8-11% for the past 20+ years.
Look at another Communist country Cuba. This can be summed up by the quote on my homepage by Paul Harvey. "They have gun control in Cuba. They have universal health care in Cuba. So why do they want to come here?"
It is quite clear that the best way for government to uplift society and the economy is too step out. More regulations do not mean more equality. More regulations does not mean more Liberty. More government intervention does not make up for the fallibility or moral weakness of man. Why? Government is an invention of the fallible and morally weak man.
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If one rejects laissez faire on account of man's fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action.
--Ludwig von Mises
