Transcript Day 7- Conservatism and the Economy

Conservatism and the Economy
Lecture 6
May 23
Government Responsibilities
Tradition:
- government can accomplish great projects.
- government can (has) act (ed) with strength in the
following areas: preserving freedom; punishing crime
and administering justice; preserving order and
sustaining a minimal moral consensus.
Government Responsibilities
Human Nature (Principle 3):
- Humans are morally weak and imperfect.
- The role of the state is to restraint evil
tendencies of Humans.
- Improvement of Humans results from
individual effort.
Tradition and Human Nature
“Government may promote morality, but it
cannot create universal prosperity.
Government might assist the helpless, but
only when they cannot help themselves, for to
do so might destroy their individual selfrespect.” Jay Sigler
Where can Individuals Find Parts
of Such Prosperity?
Effective and Limited Government
Moral Society
Free Economy
Virtues of a Free Economy
- Mean to an End, which is a just and free
society.
- Provides the grounds for human’s selffulfillment and growth.
- Provides motivations to work and volunteer.
- Copes better with human’s limited
rationality.
- Allows individuals to trade, inherit and own
property
Virtues of a Free Economy
- Provides the grounds for human’s selffulfillment and growth.
“[E]conomic freedom […]gives to each one of
us sovereignty- and over that part of
existence in which by far the most choices
have in fact to be made, and in which it is
possible to make choices, involving oneself,
without damaging others.” William Buckley
Virtues of a Free Economy
- Provides the grounds for Human selffulfillment and freedom.
A free economy allows men “to live like
men and die like men. [The conservative]
seeks to preserve a society which allows
men to attain manhood, rather than
keeping them within the bonds of
childhood.” Russell Kirk
Virtues of a Free Economy
- Provides motivations to work.
Humans are by nature acquisitive “and
acquisition is the main motivation for
hard-work.” Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Virtues of a Free Economy
- Copes better with human’s limited
rationality.
- division of labor
- specialization
- cooperation
- lack of information
Virtues of a Free Economy
• Allows individuals to own, trade and inherit
property.
“[T]he property instinct is an ineradicable
part of human nature and […] any
successful attempt to abolish it can only
result in endless suffering.”
John Chamberlain
Importance of Property
- Protects Minorities from Majorities
“the citadel of private property also makes
existence physically possible for the
protestant.” Richard Weaver
Importance of Property
- Fosters certain virtues:
“A free economy can no more bring about virtue than
a state-controlled economy. A free economy is,
however, necessary in the modern world for the
preservation of freedom, which is the condition of a
virtuous society.” Frank S. Meyer
How?
Chamberlain’s Answer:
“choice is fundamental to economics […] because it
is fundamental to the moral nature of man […]
Capitalism […] is the economic expression of the
morality which says a man must be free to choose
between alternatives of good and evil if his life is to
have Christian meaning. (Roots of Capitalism)”
Dangers of State-Controlled Economy
Leads to Corruption
“The state shares the innate viciousness of mankind
therefore the less power it has, the less likelihood
that it will be able to impose on people a total
mistake.” John Chamberlain
Debases human morally.
Makes volunteerism less likely.
Limits of Capitalism
Threat to Freedom:
Monopoly
Large corporations
Interest Groups Politics
Limits of Capitalism
Threat to the moral order and the community:
Materialism
Individualism
Moral Depravation
Limits of Capitalism
Diminishes Property:
Problems of Financial Capitalism
Dealing with the Failures of
Capitalism
PaleoconservativesBring values and virtues to the workplace.
NeoconservativesPraise government intervention and regulation.
The Problem of Equality
Conservatives are opposed to government power
to level or create equality.
Why?
Tradition and Nature
Since nature provides diversity, this deadening
can be achieved only by brute force, by
leveling enforced assimilation, exile or
genocide.” Kuehnlt- Leddihn.
What Does Equality Mean?
Equality must derive from the premises of
freedom:
“Equal right of all men to be free from
coercion exercised against their life,
liberty and property.” Frank S. Meyer
The Issues
- Enforcing Equality (Inequality)
- Limiting Freedom
- Excesses of Capitalism
The Issues
Equality
Excesses of
Capitalism
-
Affirmative Action
Welfare State
Taxation
Regulation
Eminent Domain
Censorship
Four Conservative Ideas
Protectionism
Protect country from foreign competition.
Positive Trade Balance
Import Substitution
Tariffs, Import Quotas and Anti-Dumping
Measures.
Four Conservative Ideas
Laissez-Faire: "let do, let go, let pass."
Less government interference in private
economic decisions such as pricing,
production, consumption, and distribution of
goods and services makes for a better (more
efficient) economy.
Four Conservative Ideas
Volunteerism
Economic Benefit: volunteering adds to the overall
economic output of a country and reduces the
burden on government spending.
Social Benefit: helps to build more cohesive
communities, fostering greater trust between
citizens, and developing norms of solidarity and
reciprocity which are essential to stable
communities.
Four Conservative Ideas
Fiscal Conservatism
Government must "live within its means".
- Low Tax Rates
- Balanced Budgets (Oppose to Debt)
- Reduce Cost (Efficiency, Delegation,
Privatization)
Tomorrow and Thursday
1) Is America Polarized?
2) How?
on what set of issues (Social or Economic)
What is the role of parties and interest groups?
3) Who is winning the battle?