The Free Market, continued
Though it's clear that the free market is harmful when isolated from all external influences, it's not at all clear that any other economic system is better. It may very well be the best of a bad lot. As a friend reminded me in a conversation a few months ago, every attempt to devise an economic utopia has been a disaster of epic proportions. Not only do the attempts at a utopia fail, but they cause greater evils in all facets of life than the flawed systems they were meant to replace, and not simply in materialistic "quality of life" terms.
Chesterton and Beloc at the beginning of the 20th century proposed an economic system known as agrarianism. I don't really know a lot about it (please leave a comment if you do), except that it seemed to be based on the farmer as the perfection of the human person. It is a really striking thing that we for the most part are ignorant of our farmers and the means used to bring us the food which keeps us alive. An economic system based on the idealization of the farmer has a lot of romantic appeal (consider, for example, Vergil's Georgics) but I'm unconvinced that it is a viable economic system in this day and age. Other modern equivalents have come up -- John Senior's work on Christian Culture is a clear example. But every time I think about these options, I am stymied by this question: What about national defense? Our economic system may be a disaster for the soul -- see the previous post -- but it has the advantage of providing the infrastructure necessary to build and maintain our elaborate defense systems, and I do not see how we can exist in this world without those defense systems. We enjoy extraordinary freedoms that are maintained by our military. But our military prowess is grounded in our technological advancement, which in turn is grounded in the motivational power of greed rooted in the free market.
The free market may be rotten, but I can't think what is better.
Chesterton and Beloc at the beginning of the 20th century proposed an economic system known as agrarianism. I don't really know a lot about it (please leave a comment if you do), except that it seemed to be based on the farmer as the perfection of the human person. It is a really striking thing that we for the most part are ignorant of our farmers and the means used to bring us the food which keeps us alive. An economic system based on the idealization of the farmer has a lot of romantic appeal (consider, for example, Vergil's Georgics) but I'm unconvinced that it is a viable economic system in this day and age. Other modern equivalents have come up -- John Senior's work on Christian Culture is a clear example. But every time I think about these options, I am stymied by this question: What about national defense? Our economic system may be a disaster for the soul -- see the previous post -- but it has the advantage of providing the infrastructure necessary to build and maintain our elaborate defense systems, and I do not see how we can exist in this world without those defense systems. We enjoy extraordinary freedoms that are maintained by our military. But our military prowess is grounded in our technological advancement, which in turn is grounded in the motivational power of greed rooted in the free market.
The free market may be rotten, but I can't think what is better.
posted by Whiskey at 3:18 PM
3 Comments:
If you've ever been to Reilanders' home, the perfection of the farmer is obvioius. And remember, the American Revolution was fought by little more than farmers--they just required excellent military leaders!
Having said that, I hereby Meme you. Consider your self Memed.
Rules: The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits of yourself," and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says "You are tagged" (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.
Oh, I forgot to say, "You are tagged."
To paraphrase Churchill, "The free market is the worst economic system known to man, except for all the rest."
I have a hypothesis that other economic systems fail because they refuse to take into account that man is a fallen creature. The government cannot make him unfallen, it can only do its best to use his sinful tendencies for a good purpose. The free market system recognizes the fact of human greed, and attempts to channel it in such a way as to help make goods and services easily available. Communism, for instance, would work very well if man were unfallen.
Thoughts?
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