National Goals; G. Hagedorn

Sometimes the idea is advanced by persons who, on the basis of their past achievements, deserve our respectful attention. And it seems to gain strength from the impressive contribution that mod ern decision-making techniques, Mr. Hagedorn is Economist and Vice-Presi dent of the National Association of Manufac turers. This article is from his column in NAM Reports, January 26, 1970. Infor processav undeniably ma e. s for the parts of our economy, why not apply it to the whole? Nevertheless, at the risk of ap pearing paranoid, we want to re cord the qualms we feel when we hear enthusiastic discussion of the idea. Bluntly, the language of "na tional goals" sounds much like the language of totalitarianism. We are sure that those who talk about the need for national goals have no such subversive intention in mind. But the essence of totali tarianism is that the nation, in some mystic sense, is conceived as having goals of its own which are distinct from the goals of its in dividual citizens. In practice, the right to select goals in a totalitar ian state is assumed by a self appointed elite. We find this an unattractive prospect, whether the self-selected group is composed of 201 202 THE FREEMAN April elder statesmen, technical experts, or street thugs.