What Shall Be Prohibited? L.E. Read

WHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? How MISLED we often are when judging people by first appearancesl To dramatize the fact that what meets the eye is often deceiving, imagine identical twins. They do indeed look alike, but how they can differ in other re spects! One brother can be an out-and-out collectivist, statist, mercantilist, interventionist; the other an ardent believer in individual rights, free market practices, and private property observances. For reasons difficult to ex plain, one has a socialistic orientation while the other has a libertarian devotion. But even these opposed designations-socialist and libertarian-do not accurately or revealingly stake out the significant differences between these two men. Such labels may have considerable emotional impact, but they do not precisely distinguish the conflicting philosophies. What really marks the one from the other? Is there some one characteristic that can be identified and evaluated?

Yes, I believe there is. The difference between the social ist and the libertarian thinker is a difference of opinion as to what others should be prohibited from doing. Let's Mr. Read is President of the Foundation for Economic Education. 29 30 LEONARD E. READ use this claim as a working hypothesis, think it through, and test its validity. If the claim proves irrefutable, then we have come upon a fairly simple method of evaluating our own or anyone else's authoritarianism or, conversely, libertarianism. 1 But first, a word about prohibitions in general. How many animal species have come and gone no one knows. Many thousands survive and the fact of their sur vival, whether guided by instincts or drives or conscious choices, rests, in no small measure, on the avoidance of self-destructive actions. Thus, all surviving species have, at the very minimum, abided by a set of prohibitions things not to do; otherwise, they would have been ex tinct ere this.

Certain types of scorpions, for example, stick to dry land; puddles and pools are among their instinctual ta boos. There is some prohibitory force that keeps fish off dry land, lambs from chasing lions, and so on and on. How insects and animals acquire their built-in prohibi tions is not well understood. We label their reactions instinctual, .meaning that it is not reasoned or conscious behavior. Man, on the other hand, does not now possess a like set 1 Some will make the point that the authoritarian employs com pulsions as well as prohibitions. My thesis is that all compulsions can be reduced to prohibitions, thus making it easier to assess au thoritarianism. For instance, we say that a Russian is compelled to work in the sputnik factory. But it is more accurate to say that he is prohibited from any other employment; he builds sputniks or starves, and freely decides between the restricted choices left to him.

So-called compulsions by government are, in fact, prohibitions of freedom to choose.

WHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? 31 of instinctual do-nots-built-in prohibitions. Instead, he must enjoy or suffer the consequences of his own free will, his own power to choose between right and wrong actions; in a word, man is more or less at the mercy of his own imperfect understanding and conscious decisions. The upshot of this is that human beings must choose the prohibitions they will observe, and the selection of a wrong one may be as disastrous to our species as omitting a right one. Survival of the human species rests as much on observing the correct prohibitions as is the case with any other species. But in our case, the observance of the correct must nots has survival value only if preceded by a correct, con scious selection of the must-nots. When the survival of the human race is at stake and when that survival rests on the selection of prohibitions by variable, imperfect members of that race, the wonder is that the ideological controversy is not greater than now.

When Homo sapiens first appeared, he had little lan guage, no literature, no maxims, no tradition or history to which he could make reference; in short, he possessed no precise and accurate list of things not to do. We can not explain the survival of these early specimens of our kind unless we assume that some of the instinctual pro hibitions of their animal cousins :remained with them during the transition period from instinct to some meas ure of self-knowledge for, throughout many millennia, we know nothing of man-formalized prohibitions. Then appeared the crude taboos observed by what we now call "primitive peoples." These have survival value in certain 32 LEONARD E. READ conditions, even though the reasons given for the prac tice might not hold water. Forms of Persuasion If prohibitions are as important as here represented, it is well that we reflect on the man-contrived thou-shalt nots, particularly as to the several types' of persuasive ness-for there can be no prohibition worth the mention unless it is backed by some form of persuasive force. So far as this exploration is·concerned, there are three forms of persuasion which make prohibitions effective or mean ..

ingful. I shall touch on the three forms in the order of their historical-appearance. The "Code .of Hammurabi, 2000 ,B.C., is probably the earliest of systematized. prohibitions. This is considered one of the greatest of the ancient codes; it was particu larly strong in its prohibitions against defrauding the helpless. To secure observance, the "persuasiveness" took the form of backing by organized police force. The C;olumbia Encyclopedia refers to the retributive uature of the punishment meted out as a "savage. feature ... an eye for an eye literally." Not only is this the oldest of the three forms of persuasion as a means of effectuating pro hibitions, but it is today very popular and much em ployed all over the "civilized" world, in the U.S.A. as well as elsewhere. The next and higher form of persuasion appeared about a millennium later-the series of thou-shah-nots or prohibitions known as The Decalogue. Here the back ing was not organized police force but, instead, the promWHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? 33 ise of retribution; initially, the hope of tribal survival if the commands were obeyed and the fear of tribal ex tinction were they disobeyed, and, later, the hope of heavenly bliss or the fear of hell and damnation. It may be said that The Decalogue exemplifies moral rather than political law and, also, that its form of persuasion advanced from the physical to a type of spiritual force.

We witness in this evolutionary step the emergence of man's moral nature. The latest and highest form of persuasion is that which gives effectiveness to the most advancedprohibi tion, The Golden Rule. As originally scribed, around 500 B.C., it read: "Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you." What persuasiveness lies behind it? Not physical force. And not even such spir itual forces as hope and fear. The force is a sense of jus tice~ regarded as the inmost law of one's being. That this is a recently acquired human faculty is supported by its rari ty. Ever so many people will concede the soundness of this prohibition, but only now and then do we find an individual whose moral nature is elevated to the point where he can observe this discipline in daily liv ing. Such an individual has moved beyond the concept of external rewards and punishments to the conviction that virtue and excellence are their own reward.

Developnzent of the Moral Faculty It is relevant to that which follows to reflect on what is meant by an elevated moral nature. To illustrate the lack of such a nature: We had a kitchen employee who 34 LEONARD E. READ pilfered, that is, she would quietly lift provisions from our larder and tote them home to her own. This prac tice did no offense to such moral scrupIes as she pos sessed; she was only concerned lest anyone see her indulge it; nothing was wrong except getting caught! My point is that this individual has not yet acquired what is here meant by an elevated moral nature. What is to distinguish the individual who has an ele vated moral nature? For one thing, he cares not one whit about what others see him do. Why? He has a private eye of his own, far more exacting and severe than any force or fear others can impose: a highly developed conscience. Not only does such a person possess a sense of justice but he also possesses its c?unterpart, a disciplinary con science. Justice and conscience are two parts of the same emerging moral faculty. It is doubtful that one part can exist without the other.

It seems that individual man, having lost many of the built-in, instinctual do-nots of his animal cousins, ac quires, as he evolves far enough, a built-in, rational, pro hibitory ethic which he is compelled to observe by reason of his sense of justice and the dictates of his conscience. We repeat, proper prohibitions are just as important to the survival of the human species as to the survival of any other species. Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you. There is more to this prohibition than first glance reveals. Nearly everyone, for instance, will concede that there is no universal right to kill, to steal, or to enslave-because these practices cannot be WHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? 35 universalized, if for no higher reason. But only the person who comprehends this ethic in its wholeness, who has an elevated sense of justice and conscience, will con clude that such a concession denies to him the right to take the life of another, to relieve any person of his liveli hood, or to deprive any human being of his liberty. And, one more distinction: While there are many who will agree that they, personally, should not kill, steal, en slave, it is only the individual with an elevated moral nature who will have no hand in encouraging any agency -even government-in doing these things for himself or for others. He clearly sees that there is no escape from individual responsibility by the popular expedient of collective action.

Citizen vs. State Let us now return to the question this essay poses: "What shall be prohibited?" For it is the difference of opinion as to what should be denied others that high lights the essential difference between the collectivists socialists, statists, interven tionists, mercan tilists-and those of the libertarian faith. Take stock of what you would prohibit others from doing and you will ac curately find your own position in the ideological line up. Or, this method can be used to determine anyone else's position. Consider the following statement which came to my attention while writing this paper: Government has a positive responsibility in any just society to see to it that each and everyone of its citizens acquires all 36 LEONARD .E. READ the skills and all the opportunities necessary to practice and appreciate the arts to the limit of his natural ability. Enjoy ment of the arts and participation in them are among man's natural rights and essential to his full development as a civ ilized person. One of the reasons governments are instituted among men is to make this right a reality.2 It is significant that the author uses the term "its citi zens," the antecedent of "its" being government. Such a conception is basic to the collectivistic philosophy: We you and I-belong to the state .. Of course, if one accepts this statist premise, the above quote is sensible enough: it has to do with a detail in the state's paternalistic con cern for us as its wards.

But we are on another tack, namely, examining what a person would prohibit others from doing. The writer of the above statement does not imply, at least to anyone who cannot read below the surface, any prohibitions. He dwells only on what he would have the state do for the people. Where, then, are the prohibitions? The pro gram he favors would cost X hundred million dollars annually. From where come these millions? The state has nothing except that which it takes from the people. Therefore, this man favors that we be prohibited from using the fruits of our own labor as we choose in order that these fruits be expended as the state chooses. And take note of the fact that this and all other socialist designed prohibitions have police force as the method of persuasion. 3 2 See The Commonweal, August 23, 1963, p.494. 3 If anyone doubts that the U. S. brand of police force is not an eye for an eye, see "Violence As a Way of Life," Essays on Liberty, Vol. IX, p. 303.

WHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? Examples of Control 37 Socialism is the state ownership and/or control of the results of production. Our incomes are the results of production. That portion of our incomes is socialized which the state turns to its use by its prohibition of our use. It follows, then, that a person would impose pro hibitions on the rest of us to the extent that he supports governmental projects which would socialize our income. Only a few, as yet, favor the socialization of the arts and the consequent socialization of our incomes, but there are ever so many who favor prohibiting our free dom of choice in order to: Pay farmers for not growing wheat and other crops; Support socialist governments all over the world; Put three men on the moon (estimated at $40,000,000,000) ; Subsidize below-cost pricing in air, water, and land transportation, education, insurance, loans of countless kinds; Socialize security; Renew downtowns, build hospitals and other local facilities; Give federal aid of this or that variety, endlessly.

We have not, however, exhausted the prohibitions that the socialists would impose upon us. For socialism is, also, the state ownership and/or control of the means of production. Included among the existing prohibitions are: The planting of all of a farmer's own acreage to wheat, cot ton, peanuts, corn, tobacco, rice-even to feed his own stock; The quitting of a business at will; The taking of a job at will; 38 LEONARD E. READ The selling of your own product at your own price, for in stance, milk, steel, and others; The free pricing of services (wages); The delivery of first-class mail for pay; Again, the listing of prohibitions is endless. Harold Fleming, author of Ten Thousand Commandments (1951), having to do with prohibitions of just one fed eral agency, The Federal Trade Commission, claims that were the book brought up to date, the new title would be Twenty Thousand Commandments. Those who favor the socialization of the means of pro duction would, of course, prohibit profit and even the profit motive.

Which of all the prohibitions listed above and implicit in socialism do you or others favor? This is the appropri ate question for rating oneself or others ideologically. Government's Proper Role Those people having a libertarian devotion would, it is true, impose certain prohibitions on others. They merely note that not all individuals have acquired a moral nature sufficient strictly to observe such moral laws as "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not steal." There are in the population those who will take the lives of others, and those who will take the livelihood of others, such as those who will pilfer and those who will get the government to do their pilfering for them. Most libertarian believers would supplement the moral laws with social laws aimed at prohibiting one from doing WHAT SHALL BE PROHIBITED? 39 violence to another's person (life) or another's liveli hood (extension of life) .4 Thus they would prohibit or at least penalize murder, theft, fraud, misrepresentation.

In short, they would inhibit or prohibit the destructive actions of any and all, and that is all! Says the liber tarian, "Freely choose how you act creatively, produc tively. I have no desire to prohibit you or others in this respect. I have no prohibitory designs on you of any kind except as you or others would keep me and others from acting creatively, productively, as we freely choose." Be it noted that the libertarian in his hoped-for pro hibition of destructive actions does no violence to any one else's liberty, none whatsoever. The word liberty would never be used by an individual completely iso lated from others; it is a social term. We must not, there fore, think of liberty as being restrained when fraud, violence, and the like are prohibited, for such actions violate the liberty of others, and liberty cannot be com posed of liberty negations. This is self-evident. Thus, any accomplished libertarian would never prohibit the liberty of another.

There we have it: the socialists with the countless pro hibitions of liberty they would impose on others; the libertarian aspirants whose prohibitions are not opposed to but are in support of liberty and are as few and as 4 How prohibited? Unfortunately, by physical force or the threat thereof, the only form of persuasion comprehensible to those lack ing a developed sense of morality and justice. Be it noted, however, that this is exclusively a defensive force, called into play only as a secondary action, that is, it is inactive except in the instances of initiated, aggressive force.

40 LEONARD· E. READ simple as the two Commandments against the taking of life and livelihood. Interestingly enough, it is the social ists, the all-out prohibitionists, who call nonintervening libertarians "extremists." Is there not a remarkable in congruity between reality and casual appearance, be tween what careful scrutiny reveals and an emotional outburst? Finally, libertarians, like the socialists, do not believe the human situation to be in apple pie order; imperfec tion is rampant. The libertarian, however, observing that human imperfection is universal, balks at halting the evolutionary process which is the ultimate prohibition implicit in all authoritarian schemes. Be the political dandy a Napoleon or Tito or one of the home-grown variety of prohibitionist, how can the human situation improve if the rest of us are not permitted to grow be yond the level· of the political dandy's imperfections? Is nothing better in store for humanity than this?

The libertarian's answer is affirmative: There is some thing better. But the improvement must take the form of man's growth, emergence, hatching-the acquisition of higher faculties such as an improved sense of justice, a refined, exacting, self-disciplinary conscience, in brief, an elevated moral nature. Man-concocted prohibitions agains t this growth stifle or kill it. Human faculties can flower, man can move toward his creative destiny, only if he be free to do so, in a word, where liberty prevails. What should be prohibited? Actions which impair liberty!