Let's Not Do it Ourselves; P.L. Poirot

LET'S NOT DO IT OURSELVES tg paulof. poirol To SHIRK personal responsibility and "let George do it" -or in the expectation that the government will fulfill the obligation-is a certain step away from freedom toward compulsory collectivism. But it is also possible to approach socialism from the opposite direction, as when men who are steeped in the tradition and practice of competitive private enterprise try to thwart anticipated governmental expansion by introducing a local or pri vate brand of collectivism. How often we pressure one another into actions harmful to everyone concerned with no more logical excuse than "if we don't do something, the government will" -or worse yet, "if our government doesn't do something, the Soviets will." Consider modern developments at the local school dis trict level, for instance, involving costly building pro grams and administrative procedures and curriculum changes. Rising school taxes raise cries for more and more state "aid," often under the misapprehe'nsion that this will forestall further federal "aid" and federal con trol over edllcation. But the record seems to show that the higher the local school tax bill, and the greater the reliance on state aid, the greater is the urge to throw the entire responsibility into the lap of Uncle Sam.

286 LET'S NOT DO IT OURSELVES 287 There are numerous other examples of local govern ment actions that eventually invite, rather than preclude, federal subsidy or intervention-housing projects, high ways, hospitals, and so on-but it must also be recog nized that many moves toward socialism begin as strictly voluntary or private ventures. This is not to question the general principles and practices of competitive private enterprise and voluntary cooperation which largely ac count for the high and rising standards of living in the United States and other comparatively free nations of the world. Great good comes through specialization and division of labor and voluntary exchange in a free mar ket, as buyers and sellers cooperate and compete to their mutual advantage. But freedom also allows men to as sociate or cooperate in ventures that fail or that prove harmful to themselves and to others, as when they lead toward socialism and eventual coercion.

At this time, for instance, there is grave concern among members of the medical profession about the threat of socialized medicine in the United States, which would involve such controls and regulations as: 1. Government licensing of doctors. 2. Government operation and control of medical schools. 3. Government determination of medical standards and practices. 4. Government provision of. equipment and facilities. 5. Government regulation of doctors' fees and control of prices of medical supplies and services. 6. Government rationing of supplies and services rendered scarce through price control. 7. Government taxation to cover costs, rather than free mar ket pricing in response to supply and demand.

288 PAUL L. POIROT Though incomplete, this list at least suggests why doc tors might oppose socialized medicine. But consider for a moment what some doctors themselves have done, in dividually or in. groups, to promote the very controls now deplored. If any person or any group is to have the power to grant or deny a license to practice medicine, why shouldn't this govern~ent-like power be exercised by the government? Why, above all, should the members of a given professional or occupational group be allowed to decide whether or not new members are to be admitted to practice or work in that field? And if there is to be a licensing agency with governmental powers, should it not also control the schools or training programs for prospective licensees and assume responsibility for pro fessional standards and practices? It is one thing to associate voluntarily with others of a profession to improve one's own understanding and skill, but the temptation-once the association is formal ized-is to use it to set standards and controls not only for willing members but for nonmembers as well. And this "voluntary" assumption of governmental powers is a long step toward the kind of government control that spells socialism.

If a local, state, or national medical association at tempts to pass judgment on or to regulate the fees a doc tor may ask for a given service, the stage is set for govern ment price control. The growing practice by individuals and groups of doctors to adjust their fees to the size of each patient's income is certainly not a coercive practice LET'S NOT DO IT OURSELVES 289 -but neither is it sound economic procedure for equat ing the demand for medical service with the available supply. Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance programs, voluntarily initiated, are taking on more and more of the characteristics of socialized medicine, and may well provide the framework for its .administration if it comes. There is no denying that the trend is toward govern ment control of medicine in the United States; and the question confronting every doctor and patient who de plores that trend is whether or not he is unwittingly con tributing to it under the banner: "If we don't do some thing, the government will."

It would be wrong to imply that medical associations are the only grou ps moving toward socialism through misdirected efforts to avoid it. The licensing of barbers probably was their own idea; lawyers voluntarily organ ize and support the bar associations that lead to licens ing and increasing government regulation and control of the profession; merchants organize chambers· of com merce to put their community on its own feet and then degenerate into pressure groups to render the community dependent on federal subsidy; economists organize so cieties which become the breeding ground for farm sup port programs, deficit financing, federal regulation and control of industry, commerce, and people; and so it goes in one professional organization after another. Businessmen in the early thirties voluntarily and pa triotically agreed not· to overproduce, or undersell com petitors,or reduce wage rates. During the early days of World War II they agreed not to raise prices, though 290 PAUL L. POIROT they could not begin to satisfy demand at such "fair"

prices. Oil producers and importers agree to abide by "voluntary" production or import quotas. And these vol untary departures from competitive practice in a free market, no matter how well-meant, inevitably lead to price and wage and rent control, rationing and regula tion by the federal government. Consider also the paternalistic practices of business men in offering pensions, medical care, recreational fa cilities, and all sorts of "free" fringe benefits, whether or not an employee wants to get his pay in such form. All such measures were undoubtedly rationalized in part to keep the government out of these particular areas. But the result has been government expansion of social security, medical care, recreational facilities, and other welfare measures, built in and around and upon the industrial programs. Even the charitable inclinations of mankind have been organized into ever bigger and better community chests, united funds, Red Cross, polio and cancer and tuber culosis societies, joint college fund-raising drives, church mergers, social action hierarchies-until it is a very short step from there to socialism, when the government takes over, organization and all.

Other examples abound of the disastrous consequences when individuals organize to get a job done "voluntarily" before the government does it. This is not to deny that many worthy aims and objectives have been achieved through voluntary cooperation. But the difference is in the nature of the objective-of the job to be done. If it LET'S NOT DO IT OURSELVES 291 is truly worthy of voluntary support, then it can and should be done voluntarily. But if it is not-if it was a misguided effort from the beginning-it cannot suc ceed voluntarily and will have to be done by the gov ernment, through powers of coercion and taxation, if it is to be done at all. According to the ideals of competitive private enter prise upon which this nation was founded and has pros pered, a common and general respect for life and prop erty should leave comparatively little need for govern ment action. Let the government confine itself to the suppression of private outbreaks of violence and fraud and to defense against external aggression.· In other words, if there is to be any coercion at all, let this co ercive force be concentrated in the hands of government for the sole purpose of maintaining the peace and pro tecting the lives and private property of peaceful citizens.

Needless to say, this ideal of limited government has not been upheld; and in our time we have seen the reck less expansion of government into practically every field of human action, thus disturbing rather than maintain ing the peace for which it was constituted. Even so, this is no proper excuse for private resort to coercive practices on the flimsy grounds that otherwise the gov ernment would do it. Coercion is the government's busi ness, and the business of individuals is to respect life and property and avoid any private association for coercive purposes. The moment anyone of us or any group of us initiates force against others, we move away from free dom toward compulsory collectivism.