Strive for the Simple Life; L.E. Read

What, really, is the simple life? Unless we settle that question, we will be plagued by a troublesome, socialistic cliche: "The more comI love a life whose plot is simple. -Thoreau plex the society, the more govern ment control we need." The, result, eventually, will be out-and-out dic tatorship as intricacies in society are used as an excuse for total gov ernment. Is it not true that most people in today's world think of my great-grandfather's life as simple and of mine as complex? Actually, it is the other way around. You and I really live the simple life, and this is the point I wish. to clarify. If, as I believe, man's purpose is to grow, evolve, emerge along the lines of his uniqueness, it fol lows that he must emerge from that poverty which attends those who are forced to become a J ack of-alI-trades. My great-grandfa ther's unique talent might have been musical composition, or he might have become a distinguished naturalist and essayist, as did Thoreau - for all I know, or for all he knew! He, so preoccupied in do ing nearly everything for himself, never had a chance to discover his 163 164 THE FREEMAN March uniqueness; he was imprisoned by the lack of opportunities to dis cover himself.

Then and Now I reflected on the differences be tween my great-grandfather's and my way of life on a recent flight from New York to Los Angeles. Think how complex it would have been for him to get from Shiawas see County to such a destination! Enormous preparations, hardships, and several months of dangerous travel! Me? Perfectly simple! All I did was to board a plane, de barking five hours later. His wife had to weave and sew the clothes they wore - so complex a series of operations that only a very few in America today have any idea of how this is done. My case? My suit was tailored in Hong Kong - 12,000 miles away the shirt in Madrid, the shoes in Rome. Complex? Indeed not; so simple that all I did was to sign three checks. Came the luncheon at an alti tude of 39,000 feet. Among the delectable dishes was fresh salmon from the Pacific Northwest and broiled in the plane's kitchen. My part in this wonderful fare? As simple as waving a friendly greet ing to a passing stranger! As to my ancestor, the complexities would have been too profound and numerous for him even to imagine.

Salmon still fresh after 3,000 miles in transit! A jet plane never en tered his head, or that broiler, or the coffee brewed from beans from another part of the world. My life is far more simple, much less com plex, than his. Gaining a More Simple Life Through Social Cooperation How to explain this evolution toward civilization - from the complex to the simple life? How does one accomplish it? Instead of continuing as a recluse, leading a solitary, secluded existence, run ning away from others, man be comes civilized by getting into so ciety, that is, by letting others with their unique talents come to one's aid. Let them do their count less things, which permits me to do my "thing." We need only re member that man is at once an individualistic and a social being, the latter no more warranting oversight than the former. Actu ally, the individualistic side of any person can never be fully realized except as the social side is under stood, embraced, and skillfully ex ercised. Think of the things literally millions of them - which are beyond your or my competence but by which you and I prosper.

Next, how shall this way of life in its ideal form be: defined? I hesitate to use one apt. expression, "social cooperation," for the rea1974 STRIVE FOR THE SIMPLE LIFE 165 son that most statists, be they Ru's-, sians or Americans, apply it to their coercive devices. Their com·· mand to "cooperate by doing as I say" is a contradiction in terms., Cooperate means "to act or work together with another or others: for a c'ommon purpose." The de-· crees and edicts of authoritarians reflect strictly their own, not com-mon, purposes. In any common cause, the working together has to be private, personal, voluntary. In a word, let each do whatever he pleases so long as it is peaceful. What, then, do we have in com·· mon? Each pursuing his uniqueness! That would be my ideal of free·· dom: No man-concocted restraints against the release of creative hu-man energy. More precisely, Ire·· fer to the free market, private ownership, limited government philosophy with its moral and spiritual antecedents. To me, this is but an ancient, moral axiom-the Golden Rule - expressed in politico-economic terms. You and I can best help each other by tend·· ing to our own knitting, pursuing our own uniqueness, respecting the rights of each to the fruits of hiB own labor, and freely exchanging when and if mutually advantage· ous - not an iota of coercion! Does this not clarify what we mean when referring to the freedonl philosophy?

The Miracle of the Market We have had in the past few decades a remarkable demonstra tion of the simple life. Yet, few have taken any note of this mira cle of simplification - which brings the wealth of the world to our doorstep; they are blind to the wonders they have been experienc ing. This makes all the more ex traordinary Lord Tennyson's pro phetic vision of more than a century ago: For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonders that would be; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales. So let us understand and enjoy the simple life - its exclusively voluntary nature, and the unimag inable wisdom which attends the unfettered release of creative en ergy. Otherwise, if we remain un aware of its blessings, our blind ness threatens its termination and promises instead a descent into the complex life of the primitive. For it is an observed fact that the com plexities are alarmingly on the in crease.

In every instance, the complex166 THE FREEMAN March ities are composed of coercive in trusions by dictocrats in and out of public office. The excuse, of course, is that the intricacies are now too enormous to operate with out dictocratic management; these people actually believe that they possess the capabilities needed to make things function. Really, the intricacies are no more numerous than before; all that has happened is a fantastic and wonderful expan sion in specialization - division of labor - that is, each to his own uniqueness. This, in turn, has made all of us interdependent. We have here a flowering of the simple life, the continuation of which re quires a moral conduct, namely, an observation and practice of the Golden Rule - the way it should be! Recall that no one knows how to make an ordinary wooden pencil, let alone an automobile or a jet plane. But, then, no one under stands a cell, a molecule, an atom.

You name it! Yet, the dictocrats Planned Chaos do not know that they know not. In their behavior they attempt to go beyond their finite minds, which is to say that they are out of their minds, regardless of how brilliant they may appear. It is this coer cive intrusion, this unreasonable force, that threatens man's sur vival. The way to strive for the simple life is to gain an awareness that the wisdom implicit in its observa tion is trillions of times greater than exists in you or me or any other discrete individual. Every discovery, invention, insight, in tuitive thought, think-of-that since the dawn of human consciousness - the overall luminosity - flows to your and my benefit if we can avoid its nemesis: the complexities of coercive intrusions. Why should we lose that highest form of moral and economic life each to his own uniqueness which we have had the privilege of sampling! Truly, it is a life whose plot is simple. (I IDEAS ON LIBERTY Men must choose between the market economy .and socialism.

The state can preserve the market economy in protecting life, health and private property against violent or fraudulent ag gression; or it can itself control the conduct of all production activities. Some agency must determine what should be pro duced. If it is not the consumers by means of demand and sup ply on the market, it must be the government by compulsion. LUDWI~ VON MISES W. A. PATON TheuSocialSecurity" ~~rn&(ID~CJ UNSOUND economic policy, lon!~ continued, tends to become ac cepted and entrenched. When Fed eral "social security" first ap peared on the horizon there were many skeptics and critics. But with the passage of time this re sort to the power of the central government to provide for our re tirement years has gained wide approval, has grown like Topsy, and has spawned a flock of other welfare programs, including stat~e and local measures. And protest ing voices are now few and faint.