The Gest Alternative; R.M. Clites

The same type of response can be used in many other economic discussions. I once received a telephone call from a woman who Roger Clites teaches_at Tusculum College in Tennessee. described the working conditions of Mexi cans who were employed in plants just south of the Rio Grande. I told her that I assumed she was concerned about the welfare of those Mexicans from the way she described the situation in which they lived and worked. She assured me that she was. I replied that the Mexicans must see their current arrangement as their best alterna tive. This seemed to bafflethe woman so she digressed onto other semi-related matters. After two or three minutes, she began talking about Mexicans "taking jobs from Americans. " I reminded her that initially she had expressed her concern about the living standards of the Mexicans. But now it seemed that she was willing to sacrifice the best alternative of those people whom she considered to be exploited for the interests of some better-off Americans. She replied that this "wasn't fair. " When I asked how this was unfair she said that I kept talking about alternatives and the Mexicans were taking away the Americans' best alterna tives. I suggested that perhaps trying to compete with the low-paid Mexican work ers was -not the better alternative for Amer icans. I was somewhat surprised, but pleased, when she replied that she would "have to think about that" before she hung up.

Friendly Persuasion Sometimes it may not be possible to open the mind of a challenger but if a discussion is taking place where others are present it 32 may be possible to persuade some of those others of the validity of one's point. I once attended a meeting in which a young man was insisting that people should not have to do a certain dirty, dangerous job. Of course he overlooked the fact that the lives of other people could not attain their present levels of comfort if that job were not done. In fact, the job happened to be essen tial to our overall way of life. I asked him why people accepted that kind of work. He responded that it was all they could get. I suggested that perhaps it could be described as "the best they can get." He literally shouted, "What's the difference?" I pointed out that he was pro posing to take from those people their best choice. Unable to cope with this reasoning he began to babble about "people in three piece suits." At this point I commented to those nearby that I guessed that the man recognized the correctness of my point since he felt compelled to "shoot the messenger. "

Another man spoke up and said that previ ously he would have probably agreed with the young man but that now he saw that to prohibit the work in question would hurt those who did it as well as the consumers who would be denied the service being supplied. Several other people nodded their heads in agreement and the young man bolted from the room muttering a curse! Before we judge that fellow too harshly we should explore what led him to his way of thinking. In many cases people who disdain a certain type of work project their own judgment about it onto those who engage in it. A few years ago a sociologist entered into a study of men who collected residential trash. One of his basic assump tions was that they hated their work. He 33 soon learned, much to his amazement, that they found it quite interesting. For example, one trash collector told the sociologist that he knew many things about the people whose trash he collected. To illustrate this he pointed out that the people who lived in one corner house held a "big booze party"

every Saturday night, as indicated by the quantity of liquor bottles in their trash immediately thereafter. He knew similar, though less colorful, things about everyone on his route. Different Standards Failure to realize that other people may have different standards and value judg ments than they have often leads some people to become needlessly concerned about the condition of other people. This is often due to lack of experience in their own lives. Perhaps I am fortunate that I have worked in a steel mill, on house construc tion, and in wheat fields in order to finance my academic training. Someone who has had his or her education financed solely by parents, scholarships, and other such sources may have had the best alternative for preparing for his or her own life taken away by people with perfectly good inten tions. I once heard a psychology professor say, "People do what they want to do." It may be the lesser of two or more evils but they choose to do what they prefer, given their alternatives. If it can be gotten across to well-meaning people that they are harming, not helping, those who are less fortunate a few of those well-intended people may begin to understand the superiority of voluntary action over coercion. D THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD by Robert Zimmerman l am far from a wealthy individual. Despite the wonderful stories you hear about filmmakers drinking pifia coladas by the swimming pool and having their grapes peeled for them, the movies do not neces sarily make. you rich. If I had to define my financial class, where I stand in the great rankings of monetary success, I would per sonally place myself as lower middle class.