Liberalism
So, continuing my quest to learn more about libertarian principles, this week’s book is a classic on liberal thought, Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises.
This book was initially published in 1927. And it is fucking insane how prescient he was. The preface to my copy was written in 1962. So, 62 years ago, von Mises says “In England the term “liberal” is mostly used to signify a program that only in details differs from the totalitarianism of socialists. In the United States “liberal” means today a set of ideas and political postulates that in every regard are the opposite of all that liberalism meant to the preceding generations.
So, what does liberalism mean? Liberalism is a political ideology that espouses liberal ideas. What is liberal? Well now there’s the sticking point. Because as von Mises points out in the above statement, liberal today is NOT what the word originally meant.
Originally, it meant freedom from government intervention in anything. It still means.... like literal dictionary definition... willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own, open to new ideas. However, and this is a lovely insidious destruction of the original concept, dictionary.com includes a secondary definition: ”(in a political context) favoring policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare.”
So, Mises makes the argument that we who are ACTUAL liberals, MUST STOP bowing to the totalitarian asshats...ok, HE Doesn’t call them asshats.... that’s my word.... but we have to stop allowing them to call themselves liberals. They are not. They are authoritarian statists, and there is nothing progressive or liberal about the ideologies spouted by the left or the right.
Liberalism is where individuals control the means of production. Socialism is where the collective controls the means of production. History has shown that nothing good ever comes from socialism. Whereas liberalism has given us the greatest number of freedoms and wealth in the world. Liberalism means exactly that: To be free! To be free from government interference in your life.
Mises says, “The liberals maintain that the only workable system of human cooperation in a society based on the division of labor is private ownership of the means of production.” Because it is only through private ownership that true progress and advancements are made. Because when you OWN the property, you care what happens to the property.
And this book is filled with examples of how private ownership, freedom from government interference, allowing others to have freedom of expression, thought, belief...all are good things that allow society to grow. While whatever socialism does, is the exact opposite, resulting in an extreme contraction of progress.
Mises, writing in 1927, laid out what will happen if socialism is allowed to grow, following it to its logical conclusion. Mises shows how, while people envy the super-rich, it’s because the super-rich adopt fads that those fads become popular enough for entrepreneurs to find better and cheaper ways to produce those things. Things like cars, which were once the province of only the super wealthy, and now...I mean even as early as 1927...half of all people had cars.
He addresses the extreme danger of having the state educate your children. And how envy of others is at the heart of why people hate liberals.... true liberals, not the socialist statist cucks who have usurped the name of liberal. Because liberals, in allowing everyone to speak their minds, also have very open minds themselves, and the ability to think critically. The ability to determine for themselves the truth of a matter. Not MY truth, not YOUR truth...but THE truth. Liberals don’t need others to tell them what to think. And statists HATE that, they hate anyone can form a different opinion from what the statist has been told to think.
The book introduced me to etatism, which is NOT a typo. Etatism means the complete control by the state (= a country's government) over its citizens (= the people who live in a country) and over the economy
Alternatively, statism means concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government often extending to government ownership of industry.
So, from what I learned in this book, statists want the government to practice etatism, hence the term. And this is why I read; I actually did NOT know what etatism was until I read this book. I actually thought it was a typo at first for statism, until the second time it appeared in the book, then I googled it.
He covers why etatism is profoundly dangerous. Consider it. Complete control by the government. As Mises says at this point “It is frightful to live in a state in which at every turn one is exposed to persecution—masquerading under the guise of justice—by a ruling majority.” And yet this is exactly what we are heading towards, with the constant expansion of laws meant to rule us, and the government trying to pacify us with “positive rights.”
Positive rights are “rights that provide something that people need to secure their well-being.” Like the right to education, right to food, right to medicine. Except, here’s the thing. Positive rights are framed as something only the government can provide. And as Mises points out, in order for the government to provide something, it has to steal it from someone else....in the form of taxes. Because taxation is theft.
Conversely, negative rights are “rights that are instantiated in the form of rights to noninterference. If a person has a negative right, that person has the right to be free to do some action or to do no action. They are to be free from the interference of another person or group of persons.” So, things like the right to life. The right to self-defense and to be secure in that life. The right to free speech. And the right to remain silent. The right to hear opinions, even if you don’t agree with them. These are negative rights. And these are the rights that are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Mostly. Don’t worry, the government is working on taking those away from us too.
Mises addresses the dangers of partisan politics and how partisan politics eventually break down into identity politics. He really did see this entire shit show coming and tried to warn us about it.
This book is about freedom. It’s about true liberty and true liberal principles. It was originally in German, and he addresses the rise of fascism as well as the socialist states in Germany and Russia, as I believe he was living in Germany when this was written, but it may have been Austria.
This book is part philosophical treatise, and part political statement. It’s well written and it covers the scope of what it means to be liberal. And as much as I enjoyed last week’s book, For a New Liberty, Rothbard left me feeling jazzed for an anarcho-liberal society. Mises addresses the very real fact that government, to a degree, is a necessary evil. Because not everyone wants to play nicely while allowing everyone to enjoy freedom. As is evidenced by the rise of statists, who think big daddy government is going to take care of all of us. There will always be some big swinging dick who thinks HE should be in charge over everyone else. In its proper role, the state makes sure that asshole never gets the chance. Except, and this is super fun....it’s usually the big swinging dicks who run for elected office.
It’s true, what they say....those who seek power, are rarely suited to hold it.
