Liberty and the Power of Ideas; L. Reed

and know for certain, concerning his vital relations to this mysterious Universe, and his duty and destiny there, that is in all cases the prim ary thing for him, and creatively determines all the rest." In the past, ideas have had earthshaking consequences. They have determined the course of his tory. The system of feudalism existed for a thousand years in large part because scholars, teachers, intellec tuals, educators, clergymen and politicians propagated feudalistic ideas. The notion of (tonce a serf, always a serf' kept millions of peo ple from ever questioning their sta tion in life. Under mercantilism, the widely aceepted concept that the world's wealth was fixed prompted men to take what they wanted from others in a long series of bloody wars. The publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776 is a 115 116 THE FREEMAN February landmark in the history of the power of ideas. As Smith's message of free trade spread, political barriers to peaceful cooperation collapsed and virtually the whole world decided to try freedom for a change.

In arguing against freedom of the press in 1924, Lenin made the fa mous statement that Hideas are much more fatal than guns." To this day, ideas by themselves can get you a prison sentence in communist lands. Marx and the Marxists would have us believe that socialism is inevitable, that it will embrace the world as surely as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. As long as men have free will (the power to choose right from wrong) however, nothing that involves this human volition can ever be inevitable! Men do things because they are of the mind to do them; they are not robots programmed to carry out some preordained dictum. If socialism comes it will come because men choose to embrace its principles! Winston Churchill once said that ttSocialism is the philosophy of fail ure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent trait is the equal sharing of misery." Socialism is an age-old failure, yet the socialist idea constitutes the chief threat to liberty today. So it is that believers in liberty, to be effec tive, must first identify and isolate the socialist notions which have taken their toll on liberty. In doing that, and then refraining from ad vancing those ideas, we can at the same time advance liberty. As I see it, socialism can be broken down into five ideas.

1. The Pass a Law Syn drome. Passing laws has become a national pastime. When a problem in society is cited, the most frequent response seems to be, ttpass a law!" Business in trouble? Pass a law to give it public subsidies or restrict its freedom of action. Poverty? Pass a law to abolish it. Perhaps America needs a law against passing more laws. In 1977 Congress enacted 223 new laws. It repealed hardly any. During that same year, the federal bureauc racy wrote 7,568 new regulations, all having the force of law. James Madison in 1795 identified this syndrome as ttthe old trick of turning every difficulty into a rea son for accumulating more force in government." His observation leads one to ask, ttJust what happens when a new law goes on the books?" Almost invariably, a new law means: a) more taxes to finance its administration; b) additional gov ernment officials to regulate some heretofore unregulated aspect of life; and c) new penalties for violat ing the law. In brief, more laws mean more regimentation, more coercion! Let there be no doubt 1979 LIBERTY AND THE POWER OF IDEAS 117 about what the word coercion means: force, plunder ,compulsion, restraint. Synonyms for the verb form of the word are even more instructive: impel, exact, subject, conscript, extort, wring, pry, twist, dragoon, bludgeon, and squeeze!

When government begins to intervene in the free economy, bu reaucrats and politicians spend most of their time undoing their own handiwork. To repair the dam age of Provision A, they pass Provi· sion B. Then they find that to repair Provision B, they need Provision C and to undo C, they need D, and so on until the alphabet and our free doms are exhausted. The Pass a Law Syndrome is evi dence of a misplaced faith in the political process, a reliance on force which is anathema to a free society. 2. The Get Something From Gov-· ernment Fantasy. Government by definition has nothing to distribute except what it first takes from peo·· pie. Taxes are not donationsr In the Welfare State, this basic fact gets lost in the rush for special favors and giveaways. People speak of ((government money" as if it were truly ufree." One who is thinking of accepting something from government which he could not acquire voluntarily should ask, ((From whose pocket is it coming? Am I being robbed to pay for this benefit or is government robbing someone else on my be half?" Frequently, the answer will be both.

The end result of this ((fantasy" is that everyone in society has his hands in someone else's pockets. 3. The Pass the Buck Psychosis. Recently a welfare recipient wrote her welfare office and demanded, ((This is my sixth child. What are you going to do about it?" An individual is victim to the Pass the Buck Psychosis when he aban dons himself as the solver of his problems. He might say, ((My prob lems are really not mine at all. They are society's, and if society doesn't solve them and solve them quickly, there's going to be trouble!" Socialism thrives on the shirking of responsibility. When men lose their spirit of independence and in itiative, their confidence in them selves, they become clay in the hands of tyrants and despots. 4. The Know-It-All Afflic tion. Leonard Read, in The Free Market and Its Enemy, identifies ((know-it-allness" as a central fea ture of the socialist idea. The know it-all is a meddler in the affairs of others. His attitude can be ex pressed in this way: UI know what's best for you, but I'm not content to merely convince you of my right ness; I'd rather force you to adopt my ways." The know-it-all evinces arro118 THE FREEMAN gance and a lack of tolerance for the great diversity among people.

In government, the know-it-all re frain sounds like this: ~~If I didn't think of it, then it can't be done, and since it can't be done, we must pre vent anyone from trying." A group of West Coast businessmen ran into this snag recently when their re quest to operate .barge service be tween the Pacific Northwest and Southern California was denied by the Interstate Commerce Commis sion because the agency felt the group could not operate such a ser vice profitably! The miracle of the market is that when men are free to try, they can and do accomplish great things. Leonard Read's well-known admoni tion that there should be ~(no man concocted restraints against the re lease of creative energy" is a power ful rejection of the Know-It-All Affiiction. 5. The Envy Obsession. Covet ing the wealth and income of others has given rise to a sizable chunk of today's socialist legislation. Envy is the fuel that runs the engine of redis tribution. Surely, the many soak the-rich schemes are rooted in envy and covetousness.

What happens when people are obsessed with envy? They blame those who are better off than them selves for their troubles. Society is fractured into classes and faction preys upon faction. Civilizations have been known to crumble under the weight of envy and the disre spect for property which it entails. A common thread runs through these five socialist ideas. They all appeal to the darker side of man: the primitive, noncreative, slothful, de pendent, demoralizing, unproduc tive, and destructive side of human nature. No society can long endure if its people practice such suicidal no tions! Consider the freedom philosophy. What a contrast! It is an uplifting, regenerative, motivating, creative, exciting philosophy! It appeals to and relies upon the higher qualities of human nature such as self reliance, personal responsibility, in dividual initiative, respect for prop erty, and voluntary cooperation.

Nobel Prize winner F. A. Hayek has called attention to the power of ideas in preserving liberty: nUnless we can make the philosophic foun dations of a free society once more a living intellectual issue, and its im plementation a task which chal lenges the ingenuity and imagina tion of our liveliest minds, the pros pects of freedom are indeed dark." The outcome of the struggle be tween freedom and serfdom depends entirely upon what percolates in the hearts and minds of men. At the present time, the jury is still deliberating. i Dennis Bechara The Dangers of Collectivism IN A FREE SOCIETY, scarce and valu able resources are drawn to serve the mandate of consumers. Produc·· ers are guided by market prices as consumers cast their economic bal·· lots for the goods and services which they prefer. Entrepreneurs are guided by the profit and loss system, and their ability to please consum·· ers is reflected in the amount of profits earned.