"Grounding Political Debate," by Benjamin Marks (Libertarian Papers)
18. "Grounding Political Debate," by Benjamin Marks
Abstract: This essay is intentionally one-sided. Almost all other essays by either defenders of capitalism (libertarians) or defenders of government (statists) are oppositely one-sided. They claim that capitalism's voluntariness or government's coerciveness mean that capitalism or government better fosters such things as art, happiness, education, jobs and world peace, and never much emphasise factors that may undermine their commentary. This essay emphasises the mitigating factors that others gloss over.
Arguments about the advantages or disadvantages of capitalism or government dominate political debate. This essay contends that these arguments, when they are not just about their author's feelings, are usually incorrect or misleading. They often use value-judgments on behalf of others, disguised by false measures of happiness invented from economic data or surveys, and then applied across demographics and time. Another common error is to talk only of the positive side of something and ignore the negative. Libertarians spot these errors in statists, yet often do not hold themselves to the same standard.
Comments (1)
fundamentalist
Interesting! Thanks!
The utilitarian approach works only if the opposition places the same value on the utility you propose to advance. Appeals to liberty only work if the other side values liberty. Capitalists say that their system produces wealth, but socialists counter that it's all concentrated in the hands of a few. And so the debate goes round and round in circles.
That's why I have argued for a long while that we should promote capitalism on the grounds that it does more for the poor than does socialism. Socialists claim they care about the poor more than anything, which of course they don't or they would give their own money to the poor instead of taking it from someone else and giving it away.
China is a great example. It isn't a capitalist nation yet. It has barely opened the door to slightly freer markets. But 20 years ago China was on the verge of mass starvation. Today it is a world economic power, all because it added very tiny doses of capitalism to its socialist system. No country in the history of mankind has lifted so many people from starvation to wealth in such a short time. China is really a miracle, the miracle of capitalism.
Published: March 2, 2009 7:09 PM