[MD] Problems with Intellectual control of Society

[Ham Priday]

Craig, Andre, (and maybe John) --



[Ham, previously:]
> What about [Pirsig's] statement that conservatives
> (i.e., capitalists) "are just supporting their self-interests"?
> Isn't what's "important", "desirable", or "interesting"
> precisely what is meant by realizing Value?  If so, nothing
> describes it better than "self-interest".  In other words,
> Capitalism works BECAUSE it supports self-interest.

[Craig]:.
> Exactly.  The same point could be made about "profit".
> What reason would there be for any undertaking whose
> result was not better than the effort put into it?

[Andre]:
> Without inequality the [capitalist] system would not work.

[Craig]:
> Exactly backwards. The free market system works best
> when the parties are economically equal & least well when
> one party is weak or desperate compared to the other.

All value systems are desire-driven.  Socrates described desire as what man 
wants: "What he neither has nor himself is -- that which he lacks -- is what 
he wants and desires."  The free market grew out of barter & trade.  When 
someone had a crop, a product, or a service that someone else needed, he 
traded it for something they had that he wanted.  Since this limited the 
variety of goods that could be bartered, society invented currency as a 
universal means of exchange.  This enabled the merchants to make a profit on 
the sale of goods, which provided incentive for the producers.  Customers 
began looking for the best quality products at the fairest price, and 
Capitalism was born.

Free trade was limited to some extend by tariffs imposed on imported goods 
to finance the cost of government, especially when the tariff rates were 
regulated to favor certain exporters.  But nothing impaired the free market 
economy as much as taxes levied on producers to support government 
expansion.  America's Founding Fathers had not wanted a federal income tax. 
They realized that the power of taxation limits individual liberty and would 
extend the powers of government dangerously beyond what they had envisioned. 
But the Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, transformed the balance of 
power between the government and the people.

Once government had the power to tax indiscriminately, they could manipulate 
and even control private enterprise without having to worry about making a 
profit.  And when people became dependent on Big Government to guarantee 
them a "free" education, "decent" housing, and "universal" healthcare, they 
forgot that government has no wealth of its own and began looking at these 
benefits as their "rights" as citizens of a prosperous country.  This is 
where rational self-directed value (self-interest) becomes irrational.  It 
causes economic crises that Government bureaucrats make even worse by 
deficit spending ostensibly implemented to solve a problem they helped 
create.

It's hard to convince people that bigger government isn't the solution to 
socio-economic problems.  Yet, it has been estimated that every dollar spent 
by government on social programs ends up taking three dollars from the 
working public.  If I may quote from Mark Henrickson's essay, which is the 
subject of this week's Values Page:

"Politicians have become secular priests and preachers, telling their loyal 
adherents what to believe as truth. ...It isn't always easy to find the 
truth, but it is absolutely essential.  In Thomas Jefferson's words, 'An 
enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a 
republic.  Self-government is not possible unless citizens are educated 
sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight'."

Not only has the U.S. lost a properly informed citizenry, but when a Nobel 
Peace Prize is awarded to a President for words expressed eleven days into 
his presidency, the world has lost its rational sense of value.

(In my humble opinion.)

Thanks, Craig.

--Ham