On Improving the World

Time passed. Interventionism continued to grow. The national debt, coupled with the accrued liability of the federal government on various unfunded promises, slipped almost unnoticed beyond the trillion dollar mark. The dollar, as a result, pro gressively lost value in terms of what it would purchase. Labor union power kept growing into an awesome form of dictatorial government. To add insult to injury, the ranks of the staunch opposition steadily thinned. Meanwhile, plans aimed at set ting things straight were offered in endless profusion. For instance, 697 698 THE FREEMAN November While self-improvement-Iearning the freedom philosophy and how to explain it-is generally conceded to be the sound approach, it is often rejected as being too slow. "We have to act now; time is of the essence." Caution! Premature action is pointless at best, and to hurry with anything but the sound approach may be damaging. If I am working as intelligently, diligently, and rapidly on my own improvement as is within my power, the balance of the problem is in the hand of God. He did not commission me to manage the world, or the United States of America, or my neighbor.

Further, I am unaware that any person has been so endowed or empow ered. Man tends to follow the lines of least resistance to satisfy his desires. He will stoop for the property of others if the government encourages him, and will stoop for power over the lives of others if the government grants him that special privilege. Remove these appeals to man's avarice and, having nothing to stoop for, he will stand upright. projects were set in motion, with John's support, to educate the youth of the land after a poll of high school students showed that they knew no more about private enterprise and capitalism than could reasonably have been expected of Russian stu dents. But such corrective efforts had no discernible effect. Recently, came this unusually ap pealing proposal: Put the "right peo ple" in public office; and, to accom plish this, organize "right down to the precinct level." John's company paid a lot of lip service to this one, going so far as to encourage their young executives to "get into poli tics." Yet, nothing seemed to come of it. The "right people," as it turned out, had a few of the correct eco nomic and political predilections, but little else in the way of qualifica tions. With several notable excep tions, they were not firmly anchored in private enterprise principles and thus were little better than the pol iticians they hoped to replace.

Next to managing the corpora tion, the prQblem uppermost in John's mind all of his adult life had been how best to achieve private en terprise in its ideal form. He had given thousands of hours of thought and many hundreds of thousands of dollars to what he affectionately termed "the cause." Lately, how ever, he has virtually conceded de feat-given up the ghost. In spite of 1983 ON IMPROVING THE WORLD 699 his efforts over the years, the oppo site point of view grew stronger day by day. He had explored every ave nue known to him, with no more to show for his pains than socialism under its various labels-still on the march. But the other day, in a reflective mood, John realized for the first time that every effort of his, all of his energies, all of these schemes, had been aimed at the utterly fruitless task of reforming others-a method that only put in motion the latent errors so widely entertained. It was like fanning dust-the more you fan, the more you fill the air with it. No wonder "the cause" was losing its enthusiasts. The method was woe fully at fault.

Right method? As simple as a-b-c, just as anything is simple, once it is known. It is one thing to organize an army or police force to inhibit others or compel conformity to dictatorial decrees. But the practice of freedom cannot depend on coercion. When it comes to influencing another to think and act creatively, to help advance another's understanding, one is lim ited to the power of attraction. Let anyone acquire mastery of any sub ject, and others will hunger for his counsel. This is a common fact, in evidence on every hand. Once he had grasped the profound importance of right method, John gave up every thought of reforming or making over others. Though vastly ahead of most people-even busi ness leaders-in his understanding of private enterprise and his ability to explain its principles, he realized how incompetent he was, not by comparison with others but com pared to his own potentialities. He turned his sights inward toward his own fulfillment instead of focusing his efforts upon others. It was as if he had escaped from a dungeon on a tiny ray of light into an openness as expansive as the Cosmos itself. No longer was every effort futile. In stead, every effort had its reward in personal upgrading, opportunities without end. He wrote a friend: What a wonderful new life I have been introduced to. Never before have I real ized the great power of the mind ... it actually has changed my whole concept of living.

Before, John had "buttonholed" others. Now, others came to him. Previously, others ran away from his preachments. Lately, they were drawn toward his wisdom. Where he had sought, uselessly, to reform oth ers, they now managed to reform themselves. An axiom learned in high school came to mind: "The whole is equal to the sum of its parts." John forgot the whole and concentrated on the improvement of a part. As a re sult, John's part of the world was changed, and thus the whole world improved. i A REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK JOHN CHAMBERLAIN Essays on Liberty IF YOU happen to be one of the for tunate 28,712 people who are on the mailing list of The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., you know all about the vital pamphlets and releases proclaiming liberty that is sue periodically from its editorial sanctum at Irvington-on-Hudson. The Foundation is by any count a remarkable institution. It was founded six years ago by Leonard E.