Why Right Does Not Triumph? R. Foley

Such conduct tends to obliterate the essential differences in outlook and philosophy which attach to the in dividual within the group. Use of the label merely facilitates analysis of the political system in broad-brush terms sufficient for our purpose herein. By like fiat, I have applied the la bels ttstatist," ttleft," or ttliberal" to those citizens generally placed upon ~he opposite end of the political spectrum; the ttleft" normally refers to persons viewing man as subject to WHY RIGHT DOES NOT TRIUMPH 457 social engineering and favoring gov ernment intervention and control of at least some aspects of human life. The issue posed appears particu 1arly vexing in light of the certainty that the postulates of limited gov ernment, individual freedom, per sonal responsibility, private prop erty, and free market exchange merit universal acceptance. These condi tions, existing as both ends and means, demonstrably reflect human nature and better man's lot on earth.

The free society ought to prevail be cause it is just and because it har monizes with the essential truth of the universe. Why, then does the free society falter and fail to even gain a foothold in our culture? At least seven causes coalesce to produce this state of affairs. 1. Cohesionand Dispersion First, the individualist rails against programs, organizations, and suffocating details which seem so necessary to shape and mold a doc trine into publicly acceptable form. The herd instinct preponderates in those enthused by the liberal or sta tist approach; the identical charac teristic evaporates when one ob serves a libertarian. The liberal seems quite able to chant, shout, or cry in unison with other milling beings, unlike the individualist who follows his own inner directions. In simple prose, the statist by his na ture, can mass-produce and orchestrate the endeavors of myriad like minded beings, bringing power and numbers to bear upon the specific problem confronting him at the mo ment. Such computerized directives abrade the voluntarist who exhibits the traditional traits of self-reli ance, self-sufficiency, and internal motivation.

The end result of this human ten dency produces a fragmented right and a cohesive-appearing left in western political tradition. The con servative wing (and the majority of intelligent persons interrogated in recent opinion polls tend to catego rize themselves as ((conservative") splits into dozens of different branches, often soliciting support from the identical played-out sources, often waging internecine warfare among themselves. In part, this trend reflects the diverse interests of the participants, each lending his ef forts to the matters considered most pressing; yet unquestioning accep tance of this view masks the under lying reality. To be certain, members of the right diversify, some concerned with na tional security, some with the threat of international communism, some w~th monetary matters and a return to the gold standard, some with out rages against decency, some with political contests, some with free market philosophy, to identify but a few endeavors. Yet the left, both old and new, focuses upon at least as 458 THE FREEMAN August many if not more real or imagined needs: national health insurance, energy, ecology, senior citizens, housing, welfare rights-the list goes on and on.

Perhaps one major difference be tween statist and libertarian lies in how each views his allies. By and large, the liberal maintains a work ing truce if not genuine harmony with his fellow zealots; while A may expend the bulk of his energy. cam paigning for cleaner water or better apple pie, he is not ab'ove running over to assist B in the latest drive for more mothballs for the senior citizens' home. The conservative, to the contrary, tends to cast watchful, wary, and downright covetous and envious eyes upon the ranks of those ideologically related to him. He of ten begrudges their money and manpower and devotes at least a part of each day cutting away at the support achieved by those who should serve as his adjuncts. Divide and conquer-we save the liberal the trouble for we do it to ourselves! 2. PragmatismVersusMessianic Zeal Second, and related to the first reason, one discerns in the libertar ian a messianic rigidity absent in the liberal, an inflexibility which tends to be counterproductive to the ends sought. In a word, the liberal practices pragmatism while the con servative retains an uncompromising idealism. This trait explains, to some degree, the earlier tendency considered, the lack of allegiance between groups and individuals ex pressing common bonds.

While the left does not lack for uncompromising metaphysicians, the right seems destined to carry this aggressive crusader characteristic to an extreme. All too often, prophets and practitioners of libertarianism act as though they had a lock on Eternal Truth, and would allow their fellowmen but a glimpse through the keyhole in their own good time and. upon their restrictive condi tions. Inability to tolerate the slightest deviation from the party line marks this type of individual and inevitably leads to verbal brawling. In addition, the religious fervor and doctrinaire approach tend to quell any interest abiding in the casual onlooker, the person who might conceivably join the cause if only he were not put off by all the shouting. Thus, this self-defeating trait loses both new members and old friends already active in the movement. The liberal-appears more ready to live and let live, to work in concord with those in fundamental agree ment on one or more principles. The doctrinaire tendency has gained some ascendancy in the old left, but fun damentally the statist agrees that government possesses the answer to solve all ills, and agrees to disagree 1981 WHY RIGHT DOES NOT TRIUMPH 459 on implementation of the program.

This is not to say, however, that principle does not deserve an ho nored place in our lives. An ethical man cannot morally compromise his fundamental principles. Yet there exists a wide gulf between compro mising one's principles and· eating with publicans and sinners. I may believe social security to constitute the greatest hoax, pox, and fraud ever perpetrated upon the American public. I adhere to my principles by refusing .to accept social securi ty payments and by writing and lec turing upon the evils of the plan; I do not compromise these revered tenets by working with those who disagree with me on social security if we encounter a common disincli nation for the Federal Reserve Sys tem and decide to present a united front in favor of private, disciplined banking. 3. Creatorsand Takers Third, the value structures be tween right and left differ signifi cantly. This essential truth appears to most observers, but the ramifica tions of the proposition may remain disguised. The left values power and manipulation, for all its prattle about personal needs; the worth of the in dividual forms the epicenter of the right. View and value of man qua man colors the entire mode of think ing of each point of view. If man is a mere plaything of the social architect, to be molded and folded like ever so many computer cards, it be comes exceedingly simple to deni grate the worth of the individual and to submerge him for the good of the social whole.

On the other hand, if man can be defined as a fallible yet improving being possessing intrinsic worth be cause he is a man, deserving of free dom and differentiated from the rest of the worldly beasts and birds by his power of choice, quite a different set of values follow. Man becomes a creative, productive, worthwhile creature, capable of conceiving, de signing and achieving his own des tiny, not mere clay to be kneaded and cast by unworthy hands. One salient concomitant to these distinct views of human worth char acterizes the competing philoso phies and partially explains the seeming failure of the right to pre vail. The conservative tends to be more engaged in creative and pro ductive efforts and unable or unwill ing to devote substantial time and energy to the business of expound ing a philosophy. The liberal often seems quite willing to expend con siderable time and energy in de structive pursuits, forging alliances and importuning those clothed with political power to transfer some tax funded largess or coercive power to a person or cause or group deemed just. The conservative is too busy producing the bounty vlhich the lib460 THE FREEMAN August eral uses to mulct and enslave the creator. The right produces; the left takes. And the· right often fails to understand what to do to protect the value created.

4. Understanding and Explaining Liberty. Fourth, the conservative exhibits an almost total inability to grasp, comprehend and propound the sys tem of freedom, while the liberal mouths half-truths and invalidities repeatedly until they become read ily accepted. The right manifests a curious, almost mystic, faith in free dom, yet ever so many of the practi tioners fail to understand the sys tem and the philosophy which feeds their success and sustains their being. Indeed, little systematic re search and defense of individualism appeared for many decades; common acceptance of the doctrines and lack of organized antagonists rendered it apparently unnecessary for men to school themselves in ancient truths. Yet during this very time of almost universal lip service to a seemingly healthy doctrine, the opposition had organized and inoculated the body politic with a deadly strain of virus: the cancer of socialism.

Ever so patiently through the dying days of the nineteenth cen tury and into the new era of prosper ity, the left honed their ideas and inculcated their radical and alien nostrums into our culture: The Interstate Commerce Commission, Granger Laws, Conscription, the Federal Reserve System, the pro gressive income tax, to name but a few. Appearance and reality: to all appearances, these little deviations from the norm of liberty seemed harmless enough, and after all, they were ((necessary for the betterment of mankind." The right had so re laxed its vigilance that it lost the war unaware that the gauntlet had been flung. Even during the populism of the New Deal and the Fair Deal, few voices cried aloud for a return to a fiscal and moral sanity. The conser vatives appeared stunned and un able to defend themselves or their values. Like those early people of Is rael, the right dispersed and splin tered into many tribes.

While the miasma continues, the perceptive observer over the past quarter century has witnessed and come to recognize an awakening, a gradual alteration in attitude. Con servatives have resurrected the thoughts of earlier thinkers, long dead and almost forgotten. New and exciting defenses of freedom and the market score the current scene. Yet the bulk of proponents of the right remain untaught in their own doc trine, unable to defend the system against the onslaughts of the left which, after all, own a splendid head start. Related to this subject looms one 1981 WHY RIGHT DOES NOT TRIUMPH 461 eternal verity: truth does not teach itself. Too long the conservative has naively assumed that he knew the truth and because truth was valid it would prevail. Truth would triumph in a perfect world, but we do not in habit such a place. Instead we are fallible human beings sojourning on a bit of rock in a vast universe gov erned by natural laws, norms which permeate the social as well as the physical realm. Just because a gov ernment undisciplined by a gold standard is foredoomed to economic tragedy does not mean that all men (or even a majority of them) will see, or accept, this truth and take action to avoid disaster. Man is not per fectly rational. He does not know all of the laws governing his existence.

And when he glimpses truth, no matter how darkly, he must repeat it over and over again else the next generation will not hear and heed it. Let there be no misunderstand ing. Just because we do not perceive reality does not destroy its essence. Natural rules of order exist,and con trol this flotsam on the sea of the universe whether we like it or not, whether we know it or not, and whether we care or not. One funda mental rule exceeds most others: the law of cause and effect. If we do not heed this command it will work ven geance upon us. Enslaved people produce less material goods than free men; therefore, if one ignores the law of cause-and-effect, and enslaves a person or a nation, the ma terial wealth of that community will decrease. Flight from Reality The statist, unlike the right, fails to comprehend most of the laws gov erning the universe or, if he does grasp their working, thinks that he can alter, delay, or thwart the or dained reactions. Oh, to be sure, even the liberal recognizes some natural rules, but fairly analyzed, his world does not comport with reality and his philosophy bares a mass of in consistencies and contradictions.

For example, the current gospel of the left prates about national health insurance ttso that all people will be afforded decent medical care," yet natural laws dictate that a market economy in medicine will produce better health care at a lower cost than a coercive system. The end re sult of national health insurance: good physicians will evacuate the field (since they cannot receive a fair return for their created value) to the less talented and devoted; perhaps some persons who would not have recei ved medical assistance under a market system (because it did not coincide with their values) will ob tain substandard (by the market system) health care coercively sub sidized by others, but many individ uals will acquire lessened quality and quantity of service at a high cost including subsidies for the tak462 THE FREEMAN August ers and salaries for the administra tors. Despite his inability to perceive and understand actuality, the lib eral persists in braying his particu 1ar brand of ~~truth" (usually half truth or falsehood) to the public at· large. The left knows what the right does not: if you want to get your point across, repeat it on every available occasion. The left may lack insight; it does not lack exposure.

The liberal at least comprehends his system and can articulate it. 5. Human Heartstrings and Basic Insecurity Fifth, the nature of the messages carried to the mass of people by left and right vary in impact. Remember the fact that a rela tively few individuals display com mitment to the theories of left or' right: most remain in an uncommit ted center ..Those in the center not only represent the bulk of the popu lation but also the epitome of power, for they carry the social vote in po litical elections and the dollar vote in the marketplace. The left suc ceeds and the right fails because the former overwhelms the latter in the political arena. While verbiage veils the reasons for this continual vic tory, one matter remains certain: the center finds the message trans mitted by the left more palatable than that emanating from the right. The right ofttimes disdains political solutions to market problems; it must, nevertheless, learn to cope with the political world, if only by effective expression of opinion.

The liberal entreaty tugs at the human heartstrings and appeals to man's fundamental fears and inse curities; in essence, the left tells the center what it wants to hear. Both left and right manifest that real hu man concern which attends all per sons: A desire that no one be ill clothed, ill housed, or ill fed, that misery and fear be avoided. The left, however, poses as the champion of the downtrodden and defenseless and offers to ~~do something" for the needy or to ~~solve" their 'problem-always accompanied by massive doses of government funds and the coercion of eternal bureaucracy. The right, by contrast, appears heartless be cause it insists that each should fol low his own path to his own star. The liberal offers a patent solution, the right an open-textured one. The left says the state should alleviate suffering, the right evinces belief that free men acting freely can solve more problems more quickly.

Moreover, the liberal suggests at tainment of a perfect world while the conservative knows that imper fect man can never create perfec tion. Thus, the statist addresses a base need, the drive of man for se curity, while the individualist puts man on his own, to sink or swim. Freedom offers neither easy an1981 WHY RIGHT DOES NOT TRIUMPH 463 swers nor a guaranty of success. Many enterprises falter and wither in the free market. Man expresses an essential need to believe in some thing permanent and eternal, and the liberal fulfills that need in this world by providing cradle-to-the grave care by the state. People want to accept and believe their leaders, to know that someone is looking out for their best interests; the liberal nourishes this wish with an abun dant bureaucracy supposedly cod dling the citizen, assuaging his ego, caring for his needs (with his money) and making him feel safe and im portant.

Reality teaches us that the pana ceas of the left do not really cure any ill, although they may beget a de sired narcotic effect upon the aggre gate of the population. Indeed, ap plication of state coercion not only creates more problems than it solves but also stifles individual initiative and creativity. Who will work and produce to care for himself and those he loves if someone else promises to do it for him? But the barrenness of the statist opiates does not dispel their effectiveness in swaying the center. As Marshall McLuhan has taught us, it· is not what you say that is important, it is what people think that you say. And, one might add, it is not whether what you pre scribe works or not that is impor tant, but whether the recipient be lieves that it works. Statism doesn't work, but the left has convinced the center that it does and the right has not counteracted that message.

6. Internal Inconsistency Internal inconsistency of the con servative represents one salient rea son for the failure of the right to convince the citizenry of the propri ety of freedom. Review the myriad factions of the libertarian philosophy, each steeped inits own particular brand of ideol ogy and search for harmony with ev erlasting truth. All too often, the ad herents of one branch or point of view reveal logical and moral am bivalence when discussing or acting upon a distinct problem. Thus, the businessman who parrots the lingo of free enterprise while accepting government subsidies or govern ment regulations as a precondition for government contracts, and who argues for monopolies sanctioned by the state in areas ttaffected by the public interest," or in thettnational security" interest, does little to ad vance his individualistic cause. By the same token, the farmer who de cries government interference in pricing but accepts quotas and soil bank payments exhibits grave in consistency.

An endless list meets the observ ing eye, for most freedom lovers seem all too willing to make an exception to the rule of freedom when it affects their interests or their particular 464 THE FREEMAN August passion. Free me, but regulate oth ers! Exposure of this hypocrisy to the uncommitted surely does not en courage devotion to the cause. This inherent paradox partakes of the fifth reason, the drive for secu rity. Man, driven by his nature, does seek certainty in an uncertain world. Freedom entails risk, for liberty means that not every man can achieve his chosen goals when com peting with every other man in a fi nite world peopled with fallible beings and supplied with scarce goods. Freedom does include free dom to fail. The Urge for Security The impulse for securi ty some times overcomes the longing for lib erty; the actor may want the state to assure· his success in a particular endeavor by compelling other beings to approve his goals and bear his risks. Thus, the entrepreneur en gaged in the enterprise of selling widgets refuses to trust the market mechanism of free men acting freely, for in such a· milieu, widgets·. may not accord with the values of other men and they might not trade with the maker so as to guarantee his continuance in business. Therefore, the producer induces the state to compel consumption of widgets, or to exclude other manufacturers, so as to protect the producer and en hance his position.

Again, let there 1?e no misunderstanding: the left flaunts substan tial discrepancies and deviations from reason in its philosophy. In deed, as viewed· from this vantage point, statism doesn't work and can't succeed because it commences with a faulty conception of man and pro ceeds upon a disharmony with real ity. Thus, the professor who chatters about academic freedom while en joying tenure and teaching social ism displays as much ambivalence as the newspaper publisher indulg ing in all manner of socialist edito rials while asking the public to buy his product produced by nonunion labor during a union strike. But, by and large, the left wins debaters' points and converts from the center precisely because it has molded a co hesive and consistent, if incorrect, philosophy: the belief that all real or imagined ills or problems stemming from man-to-man encounters in so ciety can only be solved by the or ganized force of the state.

7. Play It by the Rules-and Lose Methodology and ethics coalesce to determine the victor in the right left conflict. The left plays by no rules, because its very ideology con siders that the end justifies the means and man represents a mere pawn to be molded and manipulated for the good of the community. On the other hand, the right adheres to traditional values of propriety and fair play, consistent with its view 1981 WHY RIGHT DOES NOT TRIUMPH 465 that the end pre-exists in the means and the concept of man as possess ing value and intrinsic worth. A harsh indictment? To be sure, but one supported by both rational and empirical evidence. Review of newspapers, magazines, and other accounts of the passing scene pre sents a plethora of data reinforcing this conclusion. Look around you. Local school districts often require voter approval for budgetary mat ters. Control of the election equip ment resides in those favoring state intervention in education, i.e., pas sage of the budget. Somehow, elec tion notices prominently reach those anticipated to support the budget (e.g., parents of school-age children), while those disinclined to cast a bal lot for state interference often have difficulty discovering the location of the polling place. State law nor mally prohibits pressure on public employees to support measures sub mitted to the people, yet the left finds varied and subtle (and some times not so subtle) ways to coerce teachers to vote for the budget and to prostitute their principles to con vince others to do likewise.

Do you require more evidence? Then consider the biased reporting of media in the United States. Doc umented elsewhere beyond cavil, the media picks and chooses that which will be emphasized and that which will be ignored. All too often, the right is ignored and, if ((balance" is sought in programing, the represen tative of the libertarian point of view selected by the statists hardly· de picts the true position, or is given inadequate exposure. Can you stand another example? Many states offer voters' pamphlets in which candidates and organiza tions can explain their positions and offer their wares to the citizenry. Yet the left so fears the truth that in some states those voicing differ ent values are locked out of the vot ers' pamphlet by restrictive legisla tion; only that material which meets the criteria of the liberal establish ment can be distributed to the vot ers, even if the partisans offer to pay their own way!

The issue contains moral over tones. To the conservative, free men should not be defrauded or coerced. He retains the conviction that truth will out, that right will triumph, if all positions gain equal airing. He believes in the free marketplace of ideas, as much as in the free market for material goods, and force does not belong in a market because ini tiation of force is immoral. To the contrary, however, the liberal, no matter how much he proclaims an interest in the individual, lacks the moral restraint exercised by an overwhelming belief in the worth of the individual. One who views a person as so much clay to be mod eled and fit into a master plan can not vaunt a convincing concern for 466 THE FREEMAN the means of discerning truth. He thinks that he knows, better than anyone else, what is good for man kind and, vested with this arrogant attitude, he proceeds to impose his will upon others by any means available.

Conclusion:Stepsto the Preservationof Freedom This essay addresses the question, why right does not triumph. It does not offer answers, in the form of a master plan. That task belongs to each of us as we evaluate our tal ents, our desires, and our commit ment to the cause of freedom. Nonetheless, to avoid the charge of being remiss in my obligation, al low me to offer some conclusory comments in the full knowledge that mere conclusions sans rationale may tempt the challenge of the dissenter who cannot agree unless the under lying logic of the position appears point by tedious point. Initially, not all of the seven rea sons offered were intended as criti cism of the right. Certainly one can not decry the attendance upon a John Jewkes moral position as wrong. Rather, the analysis sought to isolate some per tinent reasons in the hope that each devotee to the freedom· philosophy could bear them in mind and seek to counteract their effect.

In end result, some .constructive suggestions appear. Conservatives should coordinate their efforts with one another and work more closely with their natural allies in the pur suit of common goals. They should seek to identify, inform and incor porate like-minded persons into the mainstream of libertarian thinking in the hope that it will become a welling tide. They should avoid in consistency and fervent zeal which detract from their position. They should learn their philosophy, ex pand upon it, and live it: a never ending labor. They should devote time normally accorded to the pro duction of goods and services to the nurture of freedom. Finally, they should remain alert to the positions of the left and the methods it em ploys, never failing to articulate and publicize liberalism and its failings. Ifwe all do this, right shall triumph. i IDEAS ON LIBERTY As CONTRASTED with the ideal ways of organizing effort in other fields, what is needed for maximizing the flow of ideas is plenty of overlapping, healthy duplication of efforts, lots of the so-called wastes of competition, and all the vigorous untidiness so foreign to the planners who like to be sure of the future.